Ripples
by Lady Devonna
Summary: Todd and Kurt wind up sharing the strangest possible Christmas and find there's really no right place and time to be what they are, but there's a little good in the world for all that. What's the brotherhood goon got in common with the blue boy-scout? Besides mastery over gravity, anyway. Life keeps throwing things at the poor little mutants and the best they've got is each other.
1. Chapter 1

"Weihnachten!" Bamf. "Weihnachten!" Bamf. "Weihnach-" Bam. "Guten Morgan, Papi." Kurt teetered and caught himself with his tail before he wound up on the floor. He really hoped he wasn't as tall as he was going to get, because he felt just a little silly being almost seventeen and being dwarfed by his father. It didn't occur to him to worry too much about banging into him. Too much sugar in him for that.

"_Kurt... It's not quite five yet."_

"_It's still morning. It's been morning since midnight. That's the rule."_

"_Have you been to bed?"_

_"...Yes. __When Mama sent me. I stayed for three hours."  
_  
_"I think you were seven years old last time you did this."_

_"And I was too short to reach the cookies, then." _A few smudges of confectioner's sugar on his fingers made further elaboration unnecessary. Fur held the stuff like nothing else. His grin faded a bit as he gave that a moment's thought. "_Did__ I wake you up?"  
_  
"_N__o, you woke up your mother and she passed along the favor. She's getting dressed."  
_  
Kurt guiltily turned his gaze to the floor. "S_orry. You guys can go back to bed. I have plenty to do. I'm going to send Christmas emails to everyone from school and I might need to fix the star again and I could bring in some more firewood..."  
_  
_"We__'re up, Kurt." _said his mother, coming down the stairs with a grin almost as silly as her son's. "_Tel__l me, how many people is that for you to send season's greetings?"  
_  
He fell into step beside her, reveling in how happy she was. He'd done them more good with his news from the last few years than he felt like he'd managed in his whole life before that. Just listing off the friends he'd made and the places they lived seemed like enough to chase away the sleepy fog of waking up before dawn. He gladly kept chattering as he set the little porcelain baby in the creche, ported up to the ceiling to adjust the star just a few millimeters, carefully ignored the presents under the tree with all the self-possession almost seventeen years had wrought.

Not being able to go to mass or join extended family with their little blue goblin in tow had resulted in a hodgepodge of traditions in the Wagner family.

Kurt helped his mother bring breakfast out once he'd finally run out of cheerful reassurances that life as a real person was as good as he'd always hoped. He collapsed in silence between his parents on the couch. It was a bit of a tight fit these days, but Papi threw an arm around him and he managed to find a position that wouldn't put his tail to sleep. Sipping spiced and oversweetened coffee (he didn't really need so much sugar now, but he hadn't wanted to correct Mama), the last doubts fell away.

Finding out about his biological parentage (well, half of it) had thrown him into confusion. He'd desperately wanted answers and he'd expected to find some kind of new, exciting connection there. The truth was supposed to fix things. But all he'd gained from Mystique was a new and exciting landscape of empty hopes and ugly questions. He still wanted answers. Maybe he even wanted a relationship not based in combat.

But there'd been nothing missing.

Kurt went from almost nodding off (of course, a_fter _he'd had sugar and caffeine and the sun was creeping up he was tired) to raising his mug into the air in a lopsided salute. "God bless us, every one!"

"Huh?" His mother raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"S_orry. Kitty had me watch the movie before I left."  
_

* * *

Some things never change. A truce, a crop of earnest students, a hopeful new world... None of it could really keep Magneto placated for long. And he was a man who appreciated minions.

Todd had almost been honored to be brought along. He'd figured he was probably there to be the scapetoad, or maybe just canon fodder, but this was important shit. Mutant enhancement stuff. He was still sore about missing out the first time around and to hear the rumors it hadn't worked out all that great, but it could still be cool, being extra-toad. And it was pretty depressing to hang around Bayville and watch all the light-up snowmen twinkling for everyone else. That was definitely a big factor in agreeing to this stupid trip.

He'd regretted it plenty after traveling at hellish speeds in a big metal ball. Everyone else said you couldn't even feel the motion, but Todd relied a lot on being aware of balance and space. Anyone would be clumsy with a spine like his, and the fact that spent a good half his time not flat on his face was the miracle. He knew when he was moving, and at speeds most aircraft couldn't handle.

He'd regretted it even more when he'd discovered his job was getting up the walls to scout, working on the theory that ice wouldn't be that big a problem. It wasn't for sticking, but he thought his fingers might just break off.

"Freakin' Magneto," he muttered as he crested the wall. And then, because that wasn't satisfying enough, he added in as close as he could get to a snotty, cultured voice, "No, I'm not gonna use my powers, 'cus professor Baldy or some other ass might freakin' notice on a stupid freakin' computer. ...Suck up." Though he almost resented the implication that Cerebro wouldn't even bother with detecting a little Toad-slime even within a "high-priority monitored perimeter," whatever that was supposed to mean. Heck, he didn't even know where they were on the whole freakin' globe. The Himalayas, probably. Sure felt like it.

Todd didn't have the head for geography that might have tipped him off about the chances of a castle topping Mount Everest.

He'd been assured there wasn't any working security here, and that the inaccessibility of the area would have kept out the sparse locals. Of course, if they were sure of that they wouldn't have needed a scout, would they?

The space between the wall and the castle was covered in about three feet of snow (or, approximately, one crouched Todd, yuck). It looked kinda weird and creepy, but how was the approach to a castle with a secret lab supposed to look?

He had trouble getting the door open and eventually just wriggled in through the crack he could manage. "Hella rusty, yo." Maybe scouting meant he was supposed to be quiet. He wasn't in the mood.

Inside was way creepier. Todd could recognize that something had been lab equipment, and while the glass and plastic was just dusty and gross, what had been metal was falling apart. He still hadn't been fired on by secret magnet-laser cannons, but he suspected it might be a matter of time.

Sure, it wasn't like you could t_rust _Pietro to not be a total dick and just use his powers anyway, and Wanda was a lady and all, and no one was gonna let that freaky Pyro guy near delicate equipment. But the refrain of why-me kept up steadily with every hop.

Right. Creepy lab stuff, not much sign that anyone had been here since, like, microwaves were invested or something, and no scary surprises. Not that were set off by a skinny teenager poking around, anyhow. Back to base.

Todd was hopping back down to the woods side of the wall when his walkie-talkie crackled to life. The theory was that the more primitive technology wouldn't attract attention. Todd had decided not to point out that anyone could tune into those channels if they felt like it. No one listened to the Toad. He just hoped the locals all spoke Himalayan.

"Change of plans, Toad. Hightail it back to base. Or... whatever it is you do."

It was probably a bad idea to be amused at what the crappy speaker did to Pietro's voice. "Was headed that way already, yo."

"Didn't do a very good job, then, didja? _F__ather _says hurry."

He sort of wanted to punch Pietro in the mouth every time he said _f__aaaaather._Oh, well. "Hurryin'. Whatevs."

He mostly ignored the annoying little demands from the speaker as he did his best to hurry. Snow like this would have been a lousy medium for anyone to move in. Todd was swamped every time he hit a drift and even tried to just walk for a while. But that was just as tiring. Three miles, they said. More like three... million miles. He'd be wittier when he wasn't dying of hypothermia.

He was nearly there, and ready to be happy to ride a mach-five hell marble back to Bayville, when a little whining hum from somewhere ahead sent him into a panic. They wouldn't have, would they? Sure, he was disposable. He was along because he barely counted as having powers and someone needed to go check the place out. He was Toad.

But they wouldn't go that far, right?

When he arrived back in the little clearing where he'd left everyone, out of breath and feeling a cold that had nothing to do with winter, it was deserted. Not even an empty ball. The only sign that anyone had been here was a note stuck on a weird-shaped icicle.

_H__ad to book it pinged by radar should be canned goods and fuel at the castle good luck with the __generator its got ceramic parts i guess Wanda says she hates you back in a couple weeks when it dies down byebye  
_  
Yeah, Pietro did tend to write the way he talked.

"Aw, babycakes, you couldn't put in a good word for me? I'd of got here in another five minutes." Grousing quietly helped him pretend he was just indignant. Indignant and not ditched in the Himalayas in the middle of winter by what was supposed to be his team.

Todd lasted about an hour hiding out in the creepy-ass castle. He had found food, and was more willing than most to count beans and spam as edible. He'd even dredged up a couple cans of kerosene that didn't seem to have sprung any leaks. He figured if all the liquid dinosaurs had lasted a million years underground, they'd probably be good in a can for a decade or two. So he probably wasn't gonna die.

But he was pretty sure he'd go nuts. Even if Pietro had just been messing with him and they'd be back soon. Something about a giant, empty, mad-sciencey castle mysteriously didn't work for him. He felt like he was gonna get dissected. Snow was better.

And it was kinda nice out when he didn't try to move too much. He'd actually gotten some good loot out of agreeing to come. The coat was a lot more solid than any he'd owned before, and the stupid hat and mittens were doing their job. The icy woods were pretty in a way that a city boy didn't get a lot of chances to appreciate.

He didn't even worry about getting lost. It wasn't snowing, and the sky was clear, so he could just follow his own footprints back.

In fact, once he'd clambered up a tree and chilled a while, he almost started to feel cool about things. He wasn't gonna convince himself it was a sign of trust that they'd buzzed off without him, but maybe it'd be nice to have time to himself. He never liked having people around for the holidays. Or, well, in general. He'd gone to that ski lodge the one time. Maybe the snow here was deeper and the mountains plain freakier than anything you'd see in New York (even if you counted the state, which Todd, as a native of the City, really didn't). But he'd be cool.

When it started to get dark, he slid down the tree and turned back toward his super creepy bat motel. And found himself staring down a huge, canine muzzle and a mountain of black fur.

Hedy was getting on in years, showing plenty of gray and slower than she'd been in her youth. She spent a lot more time sleeping by the fireplace these days than patrolling the yard for intruders. But if anything would rouse the old fire in the Belgian shepherd, it was having her boy back. The dog had been born blind, and fearlessness in the face of nighttime and no trouble with blue fuzz had made her an ideal protector. And smell was more than enough to tell her that he was bigger and happier now, but still her same old Kurt after all this time. And now he was allowed to go running with her. It was beyond an old dog to guess why that might be, but she didn't care.

She'd left him behind a little ways, since he was inclined to c_heating _at chase now in a way that smelled like rotten eggs. He was trying to be sneaky now, but she always knew where he was.

But here was a new smell, a person smell, if a weird one. And strange people were not allowed near Kurt. That was the biggest, most important rule of all. When the person-smell landed in front of her, she pulled her teeth back and summoned up the most fearsome growl she could manage.

The person-shape obliged her by screaming.

Kurt was pulled from his cheerful stalking pursuit with an unpleasant jolt. He'd promised to stay out in the deep woods for just this reason. You couldn't teach an old dog new tricks, like not menacing anyone she didn't consider pack before they got close enough to spot the blue kid. And even if she was down a few teeth these days, she could definitely scare someone. He was more worried about Hedy getting hurt, really. She was getting delicate in her golden years.

But he couldn't port in front of some poor hiker. Kurt ran full tilt, kicking up a sheet of snow behind him and bending so low his inducer was a little confused by it. As soon as he could see the black dog and someone in a coat, he started babbling. "Entschuldigung, entschuldigung, es tut mir leid," he managed breathlessly. "Hedy! Bist du ein böser Hund." Which she clearly didn't believe, going ahead with growling. While wagging her tail. She'd never been great at menacing.

All nonsense to Todd, and not very relevant with the hellbeast growling at him. But he did peek up from under his stupid hat. And oh what the hell. "...Fuzzy?"

Kurt stopped mid-scold. His first thought was that he just got no vacations, ever, apparently. Then that it was pretty low of the Brotherhood to harass people on Christmas. On other continents. Then that that was pretty messed up. Didn't they have families? Then it finally penetrated that the Toad looked as surprised to see him as he was to have the slimeball crawl up a few kilometers from _his verdammt house.  
_  
With a touch of melodrama (because no occasion was too serious, was it?), Kurt dropped onto the snow carelessly enough to give his tail a jolt. He covered his face in his hands and muttered, "Go ahead and eat him, Hedy."

Unfortunately, since Kurt hadn't run or poofed away, which was what the rules generally demanded, Hedy was too confused to keep being scary and went to lick his face instead.

Todd blinked a couple times, debating bolting into the trees and never being seen again. "You, uh, why do you got a bear, dawg?"

Kurt peeked out between his fingers, looking as disgruntled as his good-natured face would let him. "Hedy was twenty-five kilos at her best. Remind me to introduce you to a leonberger someday."

Knowing about as much about metric conversions as Eurasian mountain ranges, Todd had nothing to say to that. The giant bear-wolf did look a little less intimidating now that she seemed more interested in eating blue boy. Or sitting on him. Yeah, that worked. "Um..." Todd did not appreciate dogs. He went ahead and backed up a step. "So, uh, say I was curious. Where are we right now?" It wasn't like anyone's opinion of him could get w_orse._

"Seriously?" Kurt straightened up a little more, eyeing him with more confusion than hostility now. Seemed to be a real question. "Wow. Um, you're in the Bavarian Alps." After a moment's pause, he thought to add, "In Deutschland."

Which explained why the elf had been talking alien language to him at first. Boy, Germans sounded angry all the time. Maybe it was no wonder they were always invading stuff with submarines.

(What Todd had and had not retained from his academic career was unpredictable and usually rested on what was explodey.)

"Awesome. Um, so, I'm... gonna go now." What else was he supposed to do? Todd turned to hop off, hoping that landing in his own faceplant-prints would make the trip easier.

"Oh, hold on, Toad," Kurt said irritably, finally standing up. "I'm not about to find the Brotherhood on my doorstep and just wish you a merry Christmas. What are you doing here?"

"Doorstep?" Todd looked around in honest confusion.

"I'm a few kilomet- Never mind." He didn't think he was being pumped for information, because who would give the _T__oad _that job? But might as well show some common sense. "How is it that you don't know what country you're in and yet you're practically in my back yard? On Christmas." He couldn't help adding the last part.

Todd sighed, decided he didn't owe those jerks anything, and quickly spilled the story. He was paying close enough attention that even in the fading light he saw the Crawler's face suddenly go from annoyed to blank when he got to the part about the castle.

A moment passed in silence when he was done. Fuzzy's voice was oddly flat, and the effect was as unsettling as the castle as the dark gathered around them. He could only really see outlines, and memory supplied the gleaming eyes under the illusion. "Magneto sent you to look at a castle near here?"

To Todd, that was the most normal part of the story. Magneto. Scary castles full of science just seemed like they were in that guy's line. Some people were into football or the Weather Chanel or lady shoes. Magneto was into scary castles.

"Where is it?"

The weird softness in Furball's voice made Todd less reluctant to talk. That and spite. "Up that way? I came downhill pretty much the whole way."

"You're pretty lucky, then," came the response. he could swear it was getting darker. "Everyone around here knows to stay away from there. The cliffs are unstable and every road anyone's tried to put in gets washed out. Can't even hike up, usually. Compasses are pretty... Oh."

Well, if Kurt had known to look when he still lived here, if he'd had the time or the guts to think about it... Logically, it couldn't be very far away, could it? Not for a baby to have survived shooting down a river. Kurt stood up slowly, resting one hand on Hedy's head to quiet a concerned whine. "Show me."

"Uh, whoa, now, that ain't a good idea, yo." Todd might have done it if he weren't being so creepy and it weren't pretty much night now. He was going to have trouble finding his way back at all with just a trail in the snow to follow. "It's, uh, too late, and... And won't your folks be lookin' for yah?"

Kurt immediately felt several layers of guilt, the most immediate being that he'd absolutely been ready to walk out on them. Not just on Christmas night, but when they were barely comfortable with his going off their land with his inducer. "You're right. Tomorrow."

"Kay," Todd said before he'd thought about it. He was used to obeying anyone who sounded that authoritative. He wouldn't have thought the freak had it in him. Always seemed like one of the wussier X-geeks.

And besides, he could probably figure something out by tomorrow.

"I'll meet you here, I guess?" With some effort, Kurt was sounding more normal. Quiet, but the whispery monotone was gone. "Wait, how are you finding your way around? Experienced hikers get lost in these woods." One of many things that had kept him in the house during daylight hours, and nearby after dark.

"Followin' the Toad Road, dawg." Todd jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the odd trail he'd left.

"That's going to be snowed over," Kurt observed.

"Hey, lookit the sky. Ain't a cloud in it."

"Welcome to the Alps, city boy," Kurt scoffed with something approaching his usual good humor. He didn't really have anything against Toad, after all. He was pretty much a nuisance at worst. It was mostly shock that had made him so crabby. "No one wants to find a Toadsicle come spring."

"Ew, man." Todd tried not to look worried. "I'm cool."

"That's a lie." Kurt closed his eyes, gathering courage for the decent thing to do. "You want to follow me back home?"

He opened his mouth to immediately agree, then thought better of it. Between getting lost and freezing and intruding on a happy family around a Christmas tree, he'd pick the messy death anytime. Nice as being warm sounded... "Nah, don't hate you enough to make you explain this shit to your family. Take the bear an' head home. I'll be here tomorrow. Afternoon or somethin'."

Trying to shake the idea that he was about to be responsible for a frozen teenager if he didn't press the issue, Kurt shrugged. He really didn't like that idea either. "Okay, if you say so. Uh... be careful. People around here, um, might kind of know to look out for mutants."

"Gotcha," Todd said, accepting the warning and all the baggage and issues that came unspoken with it.

Kurt scratched Hedy behind the ears and turned to go. "Uh, Merry Christmas, Tolansky."

"Sure thing, blue boy," was the only reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Todd had mixed feelings about going back. Stupid X-geek had been right and it had snowed a little in the morning, but not so much that he couldn't follow the trail of bounding teenager. And if he didn't show, well, the trail was just as easy to follow back to him. The Crawler, while creepy, wasn't one of your nastier goody-goodies, but he'd seemed seriously intense last night.

Which was how Todd came to discover that forests had a nasty habit of dumping big piles of snow and making gaps that could be pretty easily mistaken for a snowed-on toad track. He did eventually find his way to the spot where furball's bear had cornered him. He was still the first one, though. Inevitable consequence of making their meeting time "afternoon or something."

He was getting used to the cold, and his gear had held up ok. Hanging out in the same tree as before, he conceded to liking the way the light hit the frozen landscape but still preferring real buildings made of glass and concrete and full of stuff that wasn't creepy lab equipment.

Kurt had woken up after a restless night thinking he'd run out the door as soon as he could, but his nerve failed about the moment he stepped out of his room. It was next to his parents' and not just because the house wasn't very big. While trying to give him his privacy, they'd always had to balance that with having a kid who sometimes decided to hang off the ceiling and suddenly run out of tail strength. Or, in more regrettable incidents, attempted to work out how to use his father's razor and did some damage to a fuzzy little arm before he'd been caught at it.

They were still asleep, but he could hear snoring and shifting. He wasn't ready yet. Kurt ported downstairs and followed the very exacting instructions in the cookbook his culinary wizard of a mother kept written out for her less gifted husband and son. He tried to hurry and keep the noise down, and he was glad to let his parents pretend he hadn't woken them up with the smell and noise and serve waffles and coffee in bed. Der zweite Weihnachtstag and waffles seemed like a natural association to him.

Then there was a game of Chinese Checkers and walking Hedy together and driving to a church far enough away that no one would know to aim glares at his parents or look twice at the perfectly ordinary boy with them. When they came back, the grown-ups headed up for a nap, and Kurt dashed off a note about a walk before dashing off. If he waited any longer he'd chicken out again.

He arrived only about fifteen minutes after Todd, but he got a very baleful look for his trouble anyway. "Been turnin' into a popsicle up here, Nightcreeper."

"Sorry." He really was, though mostly because he was just about everything right now. What little sleep he'd had had been plagued by creepy dreams. He didn't want to get anywhere near that castle, but it was the place he most needed to be in the world.

Todd jumped down beside him. "No bear, huh? S'this way." He hopped along ahead through the new impressions his hopping had made. "What's your damage about this place, anyways?"

"Um, I just thought I should check it out. Since, um, the professor..." He trailed off, not even bothering to come up with a coherent story. When Kurt had spent time in the woods before on this visit, he'd hurled himself between trees and spun around the branches delightedly. Better than any danger room. Now he just hiked along, arms crossed over his chest.

Todd had a certain amount of respect for really shitty lies. He had that problem himself sometimes. "Whatever, fool." He hopped along quietly for a little ways, but this was a long trip. Having the elf along was weird enough without total silence. Todd wasn't good at shutting up.

"Whatcha up to? Like, what's Kraut Christmas all about?" He didn't actually want to know, because happy people around the holidays turned his stomach (and it took a lot to do that). But other things he knew to ask about were the freaky dog and the fact that it was snowy.

Kurt managed to crack a smile. "Kraut? Is it 1923?"

"Yeah, we're gonna party like it's the Great Depression over here."

"That's in the thirties," Kurt pointed out, and when Todd rolled his eyes, he rolled his back. "I'm in remedial history and I know that."

"Didn't know you suck ups did the dummy track," Todd said with a slightly note of satisfaction.

"I haven't been learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln since preschool, slimeball," Kurt retorted a bit defensively. He wasn't awesome at school, but he didn't like feeling stupid. A C+ or a B- was fine.

"Huh." Hadn't thought of that. "Didn't even know you were in that class."

"Probably because you don't show up."

"Oh yeah."

Conversation lapsed again. One or the other of them tried several times as they made the cold climb, but after a few words they petered out. X-geek and Brotherhood goon. Apparently there just wasn't any common ground.

When they actually approached the castle, Todd tried to speed up a bit. He was afraid his fingers were about to break off and he wanted to get this over with. He didn't realize until he was about to go over the wall that fuzzy wasn't behind him.

Nope, he was still back in the trees, staring with an expression like someone had kicked his bear and then eaten all the sandwiches. Todd felt ill-used, but opted to just wait, and after a minute Kurt trudged over to join him.

"Don't poof in here, kay? Somethin' about monitors of mutant stuff." Todd figured that was a good enough warning and started up the wall.

"By who?"

"Uh, I guess Professor Weirdo over at your place, but the bossman didn't say in so many words."

"Oh." This wasn't a new discovery to everybody, then. Kurt looked over the view for a moment, taking in a crumbling bridge over the river that looked like a really awful height to be dropped from now, let alone as a baby. He shivered and hurried over the wall. At least hanging out with slimey had some advantages. Even without active use of his powers, there weren't a lot of people he could trust to keep up.

They were both quiet as they moved into the building itself. Even the crunching old snow felt way too loud, and the creak from the door as they squeezed through the narrow crack the door permitted might as well have been a gunshot.

Todd had spent the night here, but for his mental health he hadn't really looked at what was in the labs. He'd checked for traps and security, but he'd ignored the piles of junk that didn't seem to have any interest in reducing anyone to roasted toad. He didn't really want to know, but his choices were to follow fuzzy around or sit in a corner and be lame.

Kurt, for his part, had to take a moment to differentiate dusty, iced-over piles of junk into discrete shapes with real purpose. Suddenly not liking the silence, he veered to the other extreme and started babbling.

"A whole lot of this isn't metal that usually would be," he observed. Most of what he knew about crazy labs came from Forge and Mr. McCoy, but plastic and ceramic was flimsy or expensive, respectively. He knew that much. "I guess he was probably experimenting with his powers, too... So he'd have had to airlift all this stuff."

That wasn't hard to follow, except for that last bit. Magneto experimented with everything. "Too? What else? You know somethin' about this freaky-ass place?"

"Maybe," Kurt said noncommittally. Counters and cabinets didn't tell him anything, and any papers that had been in here had crumbled. Some quick poking in drawers and shelves produced test tubes and what he recognized from biology as dissection tools. Kurt shivered and closed the drawer back up.

Todd wasn't a fan of those things either. Sure, you could steal cool stuff from those labs if you showed up, but a dead frog pinned to a board didn't sit too right with him. He hopped back a little ways and opened what he thought might be a closet.

What he found was way, way freakier. At first he thought the little room was full of unused fish tanks, which would just be kind of weird, but scooting closer showed him that some of the glass cases contained faded blankets and a bundle of cables and electrodes that led down into the counters.

Yeah, back away slowly and find some brain bleach. But before he was back out the door, he knocked straight into fuzzy.

Very rattled, Todd took up babbling himself. "I'm sure, uh, this is all super legit medical stuff. Or... or it's for bunnies. Yeah, cute little bunnies." Todd didn't like rabbits. They had weird teeth and made him sneeze. "Those are the right size for bunnies, right?"

Kurt walked past him mechanically. He knew he wasn't really drawn to a certain tiny tank, that memories just didn't go back that far. He was just looking around and assigning meaning where he needed it. He reached into the one that was closest, since he didn't want to walk in any further. He pulled the wires out through a hole in the glass with more violence than he'd intended, wincing at the scraping noise.

He aimed his flashlight down inside. The contents reeked of mildew and looked a little crusty, but he could still make out a receiving blanket. Once upon a time it had been green, with little balloons on it. He pulled it aside a little ways, grimacing at the texture of the cloth, at once crumbly and oozing, to uncover an even moldier tiny teddy bear. It had never been a very cute toy, probably the kind you'd get in a hospital gift shop. He tried to pick it up and pulled his fingers back at the nasty texture under his fingers.

"This is way too freaky, yo. I'm never sleepin' again." Todd was peeking into another of the tanks that wasn't empty, though this just held a pink blanket. "What would you say to gettin' right the hell outta here?"

Kurt couldn't find his voice. He couldn't even keep his feet. He sank to the floor, tucking his knees into his chest and his chin into his knees, wrapping his arms tight around himself.

And Todd just tried to ignore that. He couldn't criticize. "I know the guy is kinda a psychopath, but... But, like, no one would really do what this looks like, right? It's gotta have been... Like... A children's hospital in a creepy castle... Dammit."

Kurt looked up at him in confusion. Maybe it wasn't charitable, but nothing in the world seemed likely to be gentle right now, and he wasn't buying this agitation. "Oh, so what kind of torture lab did you think you'd find?"

"Aw, screw you, fuzzy. Todd Tolansky's against hooking wires to babies. That's gonna screw over my reputation."

"Sorry." Kurt tried to collect himself, climbing awkwardly to his feet. He still didn't feel up to interacting, but being collapsed on the nasty floor in front of the Toad wasn't ideal. But he was just staring at the tank again.

Todd frowned at him, wheels spinning. He wasn't exactly dumb (despite popular report), but he didn't have the most active imagination and sometimes it took a moment to make connections. "Oh."

"Ja."

"Should I, uh, just leave you? Or..." Man, this was awkward. As a rule, he cared about the Crawler only a little bit more than, say, the guy who didn't yell for the cops when he broke into the change box on the air pump at the gas station. But he was pretty decent, and if Todd was freaked out just being here, how did he feel?

Kurt shook his head. "Think... I better get out, actually." He spun on the ball of his foot and practically bolted out the door. He didn't stop until he was outside the wall. He just let his mind float blankly for a while, the smell of mildew hovering around his nose.

"That's whack, yo." The slimeball jumped down from the wall, looking as close to sympathetic as Kurt suspected he could get. "For real?"

"Ja." Kurt closed his eyes.

"And I gotta sleep here."

"Oh, no way," Kurt said almost angrily. "Nobody should stay here. I'll port us both back and explain to my parents. We can set up the cot." It was probably still intact, though a bit battered from certain attempts to convert it into a toboggan. (He'd thought Hedy would want to sled, too.)

"Uh-uh." Todd shook his head emphatically. Him, in a cute little farmhouse trying to be a polite guest? Not gonna happen. He was aiming to be as nice as he could manage to the Crawler and he didn't know if he could even bring himself to go back into the castle, but he had... aversions to nice, happy families.

"What, are you going to go live in the woods? That'll go great."

"Naw, I'm totally fine. In fact, I'm gonna head back on in, warm up some beans on the space heater like a fancy guy." He caught Kurt's gaze, half incredulous and half disgusted. Stubbornly, he climbed back up the wall. About halfway. Then a violent shudder racked him and he landed heavily back in the snow with a little shriek.

He found himself staring at a pair of red boots and wondered absently what boots that fit weirdo two-toed feet looked like without a hologram. Todd looked up balefully at the furball and grimaced. "Can't do it, man. Creepy baby torture lab."

There was that kicked puppy look again. That was also probably pretty interesting looking without the inducer on. Kurt sighed. "Here, grab on and I'll port us back."

Todd rolled onto his back, then rocked to his feet in a surprisingly graceful movement. "You guys got a barn?"

"No, why would we-" Kurt raised his eyebrows. "You'd really rather hide in a barn?"

"Don't wanna get in the way, yo." Todd shrugged, and thankfully, Kurt finally dropped it.

"We don't have a barn. There hasn't been a real farm there since before I was born. But there is a woodshed that used to be an ice house, and Papi helped me turn the underground part into a clubhouse."

Papi? Clubhouse? He didn't even have the heart to make fun of the guy. Gross. "Sounds ok."

"It's pretty small, but it's wired well enough for a lamp and a radio. A heater would probably start a fire..." The ground made for some insulation, but it still sounded crappy to Kurt. "Why don't I just-"

"No. Clubhouse is fine."

Kurt took a deep, steadying breath. "You know, I hate lying to my parents." But he'd had a lot of practice. Without more warning, he grabbed Todd's shoulders and ported straight into the cramped little space.

While Todd was reeling from the surprise, Kurt felt his way over to the light from memory. The old brass lamp was extremely ugly, a Biedermeier revival piece his mother had been happy to get out of the house, and thanks to an unforgiving fluorescent bulb, it shuddered reluctantly to life. The ceiling was only a few inches above his head and the square room was only a few paces wide either way. The furnishings consisted of a bench long enough to lie on and a small table. A little box of dusty jars and emptied cracker boxes, a stack of comics and sci-fi novels, and an assortment of toy cars and action figures offered a not particularly flattering portrait of a younger Kurt.

By Todd's standards, it was pretty good, though he could have used a little extra heat. "This is cool."

"Yeah, I thought so." Kurt rolled his eyes. "When I was eight. Are you sure you don't want to just come inside?"

"For the millionth time. Go... do whatever you do when you hang with your folks."

"We're watching Die Hard."

Todd had thought he was done being surprised. "Huhwhatnow?"

Kurt smirked. "It's a Christmas movie."

"Christmas was yesterday."

"That's one of the great things about being Deutsch, mein freund. Christmas is almost two weeks long." He grinned this time, shaky but real. "I'll bring you some dinner later, I guess." With one more confused look back at Todd, Kurt climbed up the narrow little ladder that led to a trapdoor.

Todd sneezed as the spicy smell of sawdust drifted down, wishing blue boy had ported. That was a weird smell too, but he was used to that one. Freshly split wood? Not his thing.

He stretched out on the bench and closed his eyes. This place was pretty comfy, all told, and if his body heat would warm it up, he'd be set. Didn't know how Magneto was gonna find him at this rate, but he wasn't looking forward to getting rescued by baby-experiment guy anyway. He'd worry about that come morning. Crawler would probably be too busy watching... explosions and one-liners, apparently, to worry about him, so he'd try and make himself comfortable. Too bad winter wasn't good for bugs.

***

Kurt didn't port out of the little hideout, but he did go ahead and pop into his room to strip off his winter things and pull himself together for a minute before he wandered downstairs. He put off his parents questions by explaining he'd lost track of time getting to really walk around the place that had been his home all his life, and they'd been pleased enough by that. He got off with just a little mechanical scolding; his dinner was almost cold and he ought to have brought Hedy and he could worry people that way.

Dinner was fantastic, and lifelong gluttony was a pretty good cover for not feeling himself just yet. He didn't usually talk much while he ate, and once he had sauerbraten and a weiße with hot cocoa to follow in his stomach, he felt better. He wasn't ready to bring it up to his parents, though he was pretty sure they might know a bit more than they'd told him. Just like when he was little and they'd watch TV together, he stretched out on his stomach on the floor, chin in hands when he wasn't nibbling cookies. When the movie was over (and even his somewhat English-challenged father knew all the good lines), his father played carols on the piano. Mama did most of the singing, as both Kurt and his father sounded like crows being slammed in a doorway.

Finally, as a light snow tapped the windows, they said goodnight. Kurt was admonished in no uncertain terms to go to bed soon, especially after all that fresh air. They knew he was a bit nocturnal, though, so there was nothing odd about his choosing to watch TV while Hedy snored on the couch for a while.

As soon as he was sure they were asleep, he gathered some spare blankets and pillows and arranged the leftovers. Since Toad refused to accept real hospitality, he was very particular about what he _could_ do, warming up the hot chocolate and grabbing a beer for each of them so he could try and interact a bit. He wasn't sure why he had to feel like a jerk because Tolanksy was being a jerk, but it didn't sit right with him.

He didn't port straight into the little chamber. He was too much a teenage boy himself to think of barging in like that. He tapped on the trap door. "Hey. Toad. You awake?" A cranky grumble seemed to be assent, so he popped down and set his tray on the table.

Todd was glad to be bothered. He'd been having seriously nasty dreams. Blearily he sat up and rubbed his eyes, and then his nose caught up with him. While he might not be super enthusiastic about the use of pickled cabbage as a main ingredient, but the pot roast smell more than made up for it. What was more, the plate was set out like he was at a restaurant, steaming and surrounded by cutlery, with a little roll on one side of the plate and a thermos that smelled of chocolate despite not being open yet on the other. "Huh. Wow, uh, won't your parents notice this all missin'?" He looked over and saw the fuzzball setting a stack of blankets on the bench. Since the guy wasn't looking, his tongue shot out and he popped down the captured roll in one doughy bite. Heavier than he'd expected.

"Mama expects me to eat all the leftovers before morning. I just need to do the dishes before I go to sleep." Showing off a little, he leaned against the wall, holding the two brown glass bottles between two fingers and between finger and thumb, popping the caps off and shoving them in his coat pocket with the other hand. "Hope you don't mind weiße."

Todd had no idea what that meant, but he could smell something alcoholic. Which actually made him a little nervous. What the hell was a goody-goody X-geek doing with beer? And while Todd was glad of the assumption that he'd be cool with that, he wasn't as enthusiastic as he tried to look. Alcohol was way too hard to buy and really tricky to steal, and on the rare occasion he'd bothered, it had mostly just made him ill. "What's, uh, what's the difference between... ficey and, y'know, regular?"

Kurt covered a snicker, mostly at Todd's attempt to pronounce the word. "Uh, sorry Bavarian thing. Basically it means white beer. Made with wheat and different yeast and stuff. Don't know the details. Papi's pretty protective of the beer secrets." Kurt crossed his arms over his chest and shivered. The cold sip reminded him he could still see his breath in here. "Hold on, I'm gonna try something."

He set down the drink and quickly ported in and out of the room three times. As he'd hoped, the sulfur smell was obnoxious, but the residual heat made the tiny space a lot more habitable. With both their body heat and the protective insulation of the foundation, the place would probably be habitable soon. That was worse being a little dizzy for a second.

"Hey, kudos. That was creative and crap." Todd made a toasting motion with his beer. He'd taken the moments spent in teleportation to hold it on his tongue a moment and get used to the taste. It wasn't as bad as the last stuff he'd tried, which had fallen off a truck to hear Lance tell the story. "I'mma just get out of this, finally." He unzipped the coat and tried to ignore the Crawler wrinkling his nose. The heavy cloth and the cold had taken care of the trademark smell until now.

But Kurt wasn't going to be an impolite host, even if his guest was the Toad. His parents had taught him a lot about how to fuss over people, and he'd never had much of a chance to practice before. "So, um, now what? You want to just... sleep down here, I guess? And wait around for Magneto during the day?" If Kurt's voice iced over a little, it was probably forgivable.

"Guess so, dawg." He shrugged. "Might see if he'll let me stay on a couple days if the food's this good."

"Aw, but I'll waste away without my leftovers," Kurt said melodramatically.

"Beats dumpster-diving, yo." Todd might have enjoyed watching the Crawler balk a little bit. He decided to blame the beer (he'd had, say, a quarter of it already), or maybe he was just being a creep.

"Yeah, um, so..." Kurt found himself looking at his shoes. "Um, I got you what I could from the linen closet. It's mostly old stuff, um, that won't be missed. Should still be warm. Just a little bit worn." Now he really was being a jerk.

"S'cool, yo." Todd punched his arm. He might be bitter enough to make someone feel rotten for actually trying to do him a good turn, but he was sort of inclined to fix it. "Go ahead and sit down." He scooted over on the bench, leaning on the pile of blankets. They were a little faded and he saw some holes, but they smelled like some kinda flower, and not in a gross soap way.

He paused while the furball sat rather stiffly beside him. Todd hadn't thought before about the fact that he was back to himself. No inducer at home. He was suddenly very curious. "So, uh, how'd you get here from the castle?"

Not what he should have said if he wanted to make blue boy more comfortable, but it did get him answers. Kurt breathed deep, took a long swig from the bottle, and shook his head. "I guess Mystique got cold feet. She ran off with me, but she lost me on the way. Papi and Mama found me in the river, and I've been here ever since."

"In the river?"

"Back that way." He nodded to his right. "Not much to look at this time of year, since it's all snowed over."

"Oh, that is messed up," Todd said. What the hell was wrong with a lady who could turn into a bird or whatever letting a baby float down a river? He had an angry gut reaction when it came to little kids being left alone, and it came out with vitriol he hadn't planned for. "But, uh, you got the only people on earth who'd take care of the little freak baby that washed up, huh?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Kurt agreed, not really minding "freak" when it came from the Toad. "They're pretty great."

"Not a lotta neighbors, then?" Todd tried to mimic Kurt's swig. That was... burny.

"There's a town down the road. I haven't been since I was a baby. The reaction... wasn't good. They know I'm up here, but back then they didn't even have many ideas about what might be up. Though apparently the local kids scare each other with the devil baby."

"Fuck 'em," Todd said throatily.

"Yeah, I don't even care anymore." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "Not for me, anyway. I've been worried since the mutant thing came out. No one was planning on coming to exorcise the devil baby, but now that they might figure out there's a mutie in this house..."

That was an ugly thought. Todd thought of the Crawler's earlier warning and nodded. "Hope they're too lazy."

"Yeah." He shook his head. "I guess my parents would be weird either way. I mean, a couple writers into living off the land? I'm barely around now. Hopefully people'll just... forget."

Todd suspected that they might not have been planned to be quite as reclusive as they'd turned out, but he didn't say anything. They were quiet for a few moments, and he busied himself with the rest of dinner. The cocoa was amazing. He didn't indulge his sweet tooth all that much.

"This got marshmallows?"

"And cinnamon. It's a house specialty." Kurt smiled and stood to gather up the dishes. Todd set down the thermos on the tray. "I'll grab the bottle tomorrow. Papi reuses them. Anyway, uh, sleep well, mein fruend." He companionably patted Todd's shoulder and disappeared, leaving behind one more dose of slightly smelly heat.

He didn't need to be great at context cues to get that particular little bit of German, especially the second time. Definitely his least unfavorite X-dork, that guy.

Kurt dropped off to sleep and unpleasant dreams in just enough time to get him into pajamas, but Todd had dozed just enough that he was a little edgy and knew what kind of a night he'd have. He was less thrilled about this tiny room now, but he tried to entertain himself while he nursed the beer. He toyed with the radio, but it was hard to tell the static from the talk radio and the music was dorky. He tried to read the one book in Kurt's stash that was in English. Had some aliens on the cover, which should have been about as cool as a book got, but recreational reading wasn't really his thing since he'd given up _Goosebumps_. His attention wandered too much to have any idea what was going on five pages in, and he gave up.

But by then the beer had caught up with him. It was kind of nice, actually. More buzzy than dizzying. He'd have to remember to eat a bunch of pot roast next time Lance stole PBR.

He made up the bench into a bed and curled up under as many layers as would stay on. It wasn't much colder than the boarding house when they got behind on the gas bill, and Pietro wasn't running around complaining so no one could sleep.

Not that he was really sleeping, just daydreaming. Todd had a pathetically modest fantasy life. He just wanted things to be better. A comfy bed and decent dinner spread was sometimes a nice enough idea to please him as he drifted off. Since he kind of had both right now, he had to expand a little bit. He wasn't optimistic enough to think about not being a mutie pariah every time he left his room, not after today's discoveries. So he settled on his favorite middle ground.

It was a boy kind of night.

Todd tended to fall in love with girls They were pretty and soft and so alien that it was safe. His odd idea of love, fomented in the head of a kid who'd seen too little of it, insisted on perfection. He could put girls on magical, divine pedestals of awesomeness. He was perfectly certain not a one of them would be stupid enough to reciprocate, and he could always fuel the flames of passion by doing ridiculous things for female approval. Wanda was his current fixation, and Wanda was amazing and everything. But he couldn't even imagine her kissing him, never mind snuggling or dating or running away to get married.

Boys weren't magic. He didn't think his chances were any better, but that was why it was all in the realm of daydreams. His imagination was at least up to actual interactions. He could guess what a boy's hand would feel like in his. They were nicer dreams, more rewarding, but they didn't have the elevating factor that picturing Wanda as a goddess of, probably, pain and eyeliner did. And because he knew dudes weren't perfect, he never had to consider any daydreams of crushes seriously.

So it didn't even really bother him that the Crawler turned up. Didn't mean anything more than it ever did. Did raise the question as to why this felt more reasonable than imagining an end to mutant suppression, but when visions of softness in the form lavender-smelling sheets and blue fuzz eased into real dreams, no creepy baby labs materialized. So he came out on top anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt wasn't so lucky, that night or for a few more. Talking with Todd was actually one of the better distractions from the dark mood that had settled on him, since the Toad could usually be goaded into being annoying whenever things might get dark. Looking after his guest also proved a welcome occupation, since staying up to deliver dinner and chat made him tired enough that he did get a little sleep.

He really was turning into a first-order creep, wasn't he? Hanging out to trade insults and speculation with the Brotherhood's most embarrassing representative calmed him down. Spending Christmas with his wonderful, loving parents didn't.

Though he was only a _little_angry at his suspicion that they might have guessed something about a haunted mountain only miles from their home, and just down the river if you were a small, floating object. He kind of understood that.

There were a lot of quiet places in their lives, after all. Losing the chance to visit friends and relatives as a family was one burden he hated to think about having put on them. He sometimes thought about the normal child they might have adopted if he hadn't turned up when he had, usually imagined as looking like the plans for a little brother he'd been gently cajoled into abandoning at age six. That was out, conversationally. Lost opportunities in academia, limited trips to church, the time required to home-school... All those old clouds hung around the Wagners, acknowledged without turning into resentment. This was just one more.

It upset him much more to be thinking about his biological mother (and mulling horribly over possibilities for a biological father, when he couldn't stop himself) while he was supposed to be having the most important time of the year with them. They'd noticed he was quieter and he'd been working hard not to worry them, but Mystique and the lab and Magneto weighed much too heavily on his thoughts for comfort or his usual energy.

Even during a little more caroling. Papi was going easy on the piano tonight so Mama could focus on her singing, and Kurt was reduced to mainly audience and coffee refills. Tonight his inclination to quiet and attempts to overcompensate made him over-affectionate even for Kurt. He was contenting himself with petting Hedy to keep from doing too much extra hugging now that he'd noticed. He even agreed to join in on a few songs, which even the dog clearly disapproved of. Kurt wasn't sure if he should attribute that to her being a music lover or attuned to horrid frequencies that no doubt resulted from his attempts at singing.

Todd had learned, over the past couple days, that he could come and go pretty much as he wanted as long as he did it at night. The bear had stopped considering him a threat, apparently, and the door was shadowed by the kind of heavy bushes the Wagners favored for reasons even his imagination could manage. He was just returning from a day of waiting around for Magneto and trying to dare himself to go back to the castle when he heard music from the Wagner house.

He moved in that direction mostly as a challenge. The mountainous country was dark in a way his urban experience had never prepared him for, and previous trips under Magneto's auspices had kept him too occupied for much stargazing or appreciating infinite frozen stillness. The house looked so warm and inviting it was kind of insulting as he skulked up to the window.

A red curtain hung down and snow on the sill shrunk his view even further, but he had a lot of practice squinting through keyholes. This wasn't much different.

The room was lit by a fire and lamps covered in golden glass, falling on deep reds and browns on the walls and furniture. There was Fuzzy in all his natural glory, draped upside down on the couch with a gingerbread man sticking out of his mouth, dropping crumbs on his fanned-out hair. There was the bear, dozing and looking a lot smaller and safer in there. He'd really wanted a look at the parents, but they were so absolutely ordinary looking that he was disappointed. He'd kind of hoped to be able to recognize people who would raise a lost mutie as their own. He'd been thinking maybe they were kind of on the ugly side themselves, or clearly members of a pro-freak cult, or anything but... people. Good people who'd desperately wanted a child and had taken the one who came to them.

People not everybody got to meet. Todd went from mildly amused to angry, the kind of nasty, baleful anger that sucked the most. The kind directed inward. He hopped quickly back to his hideout and lay on the rumpled, no longer herby-smelling bed and scowled.

Kurt knocked on the trapdoor when he'd been stewing for more than an hour and had mostly cooled down to a bad mood. "Yeah, come on down." The Crawler bamfed in, warming the room a little, and set down a bowl of soup with a sharper smelling beer than the last time, plus a plate of round, white cookies.

"Hey, so I dug these out for you," he announced cheerfully. He held up a blue sweater and pair of dark jeans. "I think they'll fit okay. My old stuff, obviously, but I patched up the tail hole and everything."

Oh, yeah, normal people changed clothes more than once a week. Nice, normal people who hung out with their folks having musical family meals and hugging dogs, even when they were twice as weird looking as some lowlife freak the whole world had given up on.

"From a couple years ago, but I was growing and stuff. Not worn to pieces, see?" God, he just kept talking. Castle torture-baby was starting to look pretty good all of a sudden. "These are pfeffernusse. They're my favorite, but be prepared. They're spicy, and kind of hard." The fuzzball grinned and him and suddenly his irritation all melted away.

So this was the detritus of someone else's awesome life. That was what he lived on anyway. He just usually didn't get the chance to watch it happen. There had to be some reason the elf got the cozy farmhouse and the puppy and the Toad got jack. "That's what she said," he added tiredly.

He'd kind of hoped to scandalize the geek, but Kurt just snorted. "Who is she and why does she say such things?"

Todd almost returned a perfunctory "your mom," but that didn't seem right for a whole bunch of reasons. He just scooted up to the table to eat. "So, uh, your parents let you have this?" He held up the beer Kurt had already opened.

"I forget, you're American." Kurt snickered. "You only have to be fourteen here."

"No fair." Todd tucked in for a moment, enjoying his fourth day of regular, delicious food. If this kept up much longer he might not be able to play count-the-ribs anymore. "So, uh, heard you guys when I came back today. Your mom's got a set of lungs."

"Not the way I'd put it," Kurt said, amused. He took a sip as he settled onto the end of the bench. "But yeah, she used to be in choirs. Poor woman got stuck with us."

Todd tried to take a swig of beer, not liking the idea of a boyscout wimp out-drinking him no matter how much of a head start he had, and almost choked. Well, that was pretty much fizzy tar, wasn't it? He waited for Kurt to stop laughing at him. "S'pretty cool. I mean, multitalented."

"Ja, she's pretty nifty." Then the inevitable happened. "What's yours like?"

To his credit, Kurt realized almost immediately he'd bounded heedlessly onto thin ice. "Mein Gott, I'm the worst person ever, aren't I?"

In fact, the contrition made it bitterly funny rather than just bitter. "Nah, we were both thinkin' it, elf. Don't really got one. Well, I mean, she exists and stuff, and I have an address written down someplace. I get a birthday card every couple years."

"Oh."

"I don't really know for sure why she ditched out on me." He wasn't sure why he kept talking, except no one knew besides him, and letting it go was cathartic. And maybe it'd make Kurt think about how unfairly, incredibly lucky he was. "Dad, yeah. She never let me forget that he walked out a couple days after the nurse handed him a freak-baby. But sometimes she was just as mad about it as me, so... Dunno. Maybe she was just pissed because he figured I wasn't his."

"Jackass," Kurt said, the pathetically mild diatribe falling flat despite his better hopes. Todd elbowed him.

"Don't talk about my dad that way."

"Wait, huh?"

"Best revenge is not letting him off bein' my dad, right? This?" He jabbed outsized, webbed thumbs into his own chest. "This came straight from him. Nothin' he can do about it. So he's my dad, don't rag on him."

"...I get you."

Todd thought he actually might. Weird. "Anyway, maybe she got tired of havin' a little mutie around. Maybe it was booze or... y'know, just too many bad days in a row." He tapped his forehead meaningfully. He had no idea what was wrong with her. Bipolar was the last news he'd heard, but he didn't know enough about her or how being messed in the head worked to judge whether that was fair. "She left me outside a police station. I was three. Mostly foster homes after that. She visited sometimes, but she's, ah, not supposed to see me alone no more."

"You don't really have to keep talking if you don't want to."

Todd turned to glare at him, momentarily feeling that pathetic anger spark. He didn't want pity, and while he was, in a way, trying to hurt the guy, he wasn't ready to deal with disgust. But he didn't really see either. Good-natured, sheltered little model citizen just nodded, and Todd relaxed again.

"It's ok. And it wasn't as bad as yer probably thinking. She's a tiny little lady, shorter than me. Couldn't put much hurt on nobody, no matter if she wanted to." Which she had.

"I don't really think there's such a thing as just a little..." Kurt couldn't find a word he didn't think would distress Todd one way or another, all over again. "You want me to leave you alone?"

"What, with that on my mind an' a beer? You must really hate me, Blue." Todd elbowed him again, more gently. "What I wouldn't give for TV."

Not a nickname he'd heard since Tabby. Hadn't thought of that in a while. "I'd offer to port you inside, but you'd just be pissed again, ja?" Even Kurt didn't like the idea in that particular case. He'd worked out how to explain to his parents if he brought Todd home, but if one of them came down to find him there, well, it'd be a lot more awkward. That and their chances of finding something in a language Todd understood hinged on a subtitled movie airing at the right time.

"It ain't pissed. Just not lookin' for charity, yo."

"What do you mean, you're not looking for charity?" He was honestly curious. "Which it isn't, by the way, not really. But when have you ever turned down free stuff? What about the time you guys were causing _accidents_so people would give you appliances?"

"First off, that was so Pietro would leave us alone, mostly. The free stuff was a bonus." Not one of their prouder moments, admittedly, but what did he care about proud moments? Being a welcome freak for a change had been nice. "Fine. I don't want _your_charity. I don't wanna sit there while Mom and Pop Wagner make cookies and sing songs and the bear fetches slippers. Ain't for me. This is way better."

Kurt sighed, set down an empty bottle and gave him an extra-bony shoulder bump. "You're still invited, Todd. I'm gonna try and get some sleep." He popped out and Todd scooted over to sit in the epicenter of teleportation-heat.

He didn't really want to finish the nasty beer, but letting booze go to waste went against what little he had in the way of ethics. He finished it off in a hurry, trying to ignore the taste, and flopped onto the bed. Dizziness caught him up within minutes. Maybe the soup had been less substantial than the meal last time. He didn't feel all that awesome, or up to constructing some rewarding dreams.

But he cuddled up to his bedding just the same. Might be there was a little lavender left.

Kurt ported right into the kitchen to put away the dishes. As he was stacking them, Hedy bumped his leg, asking to go out. He went ahead and leashed her instead of just opening the door. His night vision might be excellent, but he didn't like to risk a blind, aging dog to the absolute middle of the night. So Kurt headed outside with his coat open and his hat half hanging off. It wouldn't take long. Hedy wasn't that big a fan of snow before bed.

And of course he didn't bother with his inducer. Not when he was home and safe. He wasn't paying attention to anything but telling Hedy she was a good girl until she barked.

Hedy did not feel like a good girl. She suspected she might, in fact, be a bad dog. She was cold and sleepy and she wanted to herd her boy back inside. It was distracting. The wind was in the wrong direction, but she still should have noticed the new stranger scent (on top of the very interesting one from her boy's friend that she was apparently not to bark about).

Before he'd consciously taken in more than a human shape in the trees,Kurt panicked. He always did, but it felt particularly shameful now as he and Hedy landed on the kitchen floor. Maybe he could have fixed things, or found a way to hide, or flipped on his inducer so he could convince the guy he hadn't seen anything. He wasn't a child with no options anymore.

Maybe the man had just been a backpacker. It did happen, though not usually this time of year. Had he seen snowshoes? A person really ought to have snowshoes to be moving around freely hereabouts. Just a snowshoe-er...The one thing he was sure was that he hadn't just seen Todd. Though all he really remembered was a silhouette, the Toad held himself quite differently from someone with a normal spine. The slight anatomical variations were crystal clear to_ him_.

No, he couldn't talk himself into that. He only dragged his feet a little on the way up to his parents room. They were disappointed, though the way it wasn't directed at him just made him feel more guilty. They'd hoped this wouldn't happen again. He had had the option to turn on his inducer even when he was standing between the woodshed and the kitchen door. It could have been avoided.

He mechanically went through checking for preparedness, thinking back over previous incidents. Nothing really awful had happened. Those children who'd come on dares for a while had thrown a few things, led to him hiding in a tree for six hours in the rain. The missionary types who'd worked their way all the way up the mountain and to the front door had come to nothing, but their hysterical accusations had left Kurt hiding in his clubhouse for two days. The police officer looking for a missing hiker had been told the honest truth, and had just decided not to mention them. The worst had never happened.

But that didn't mean they shouldn't be ready. The danger was greater now that news of mutants had broken. Kurt and his parents talked through their strategy for most of the night, and when Kurt nodded off on the couch, he'd forgotten to slip off and tell Todd.

Morning was ordinary enough. Kurt made breakfast again, jittery from lack of sleep and overabundance of nerves. He was lucky he only burned the one crepe. He helped with winding up some yarn (one of the few fine tasks that his fingers were better for), polishing silver, just... keeping busy. His parents were in a similar mood and didn't let him out of their sight. Eventually he just had to say he was taking a shower. He rushed through it, leaving his hair sopping and soap on the tip of one ear, and ported straight into the underground hideout. Fortunately, Todd wasn't changing or anything embarrassing.

Just asleep. The noise and the smell woke him up abruptly and he fell out of bed (or, well, off the blanket-padded bench) with a squawk. "Whoa, fuzzy, what the hell?"

"Sorry. Um, in a hurry. So, well, someone saw me last night."

Todd didn't have too much trouble with that as a concept, even as he rubbed at his eyes. "Whoa. Okay, so, like..."

"Well, we kind of have an evacuation plan if we really, really need it. It's never gotten that bad before. You might not want to go out today, I guess?" Kurt sighed.

"That's rough. Gonna be beyond bored." Toss sat cross-legged on the floor, chin in his hands. His expression was weary but accepting. Kurt found himself wishing someone would just yell at him for being an idiot already. Maybe it'd take the edge off. "Evacuation, huh? So, uh, what, do we sled down to safety?"

"No, there's a little abandoned ranger's cabin about, uh, maximum port range away." Kurt cut to the chase. "You really better come inside."

Todd knew he was right. That was just a safety thing. But he'd had a rough night and he wasn't feeling more up to hanging around the Brady Bunch over there. Quite the contrary. "I'd be in the way, dawg."

"It's not safe for you to stay here," Kurt pointed out. "And really, my parents aren't going to be in a mood to argue. If... when we know we're set again, it'll be easier, probably. And-"

"Hey, Kurt." He stopped at his name. "No."

"Toad- Todd." Kurt might not share any blood with his parents, but he looked a lot like his mom when he set his hands on his hips. "Come on, in the house. I'll just grab you in another second."

"How many people can you take when you port?" Todd could see he'd made his point. "It'll be fine. I'll see yah when things cool down." Kurt opened his mouth to argue, clearly considered grabbing Todd and teleporting with or without his ok. "Fuzzy. Hair's freezing."

He checked, discovered it was true and sighed. Something about icicles forming around your ears made it hard to put up a strong front. "I'll be back for you." Kurt went ahead and popped back where he'd come from.

Todd sat still for a moment, then carefully changed back out of the clothes Kurt had loaned him. He even tried to fold those and the blankets. If things got nasty, then at least he wouldn't leave a mess behind. He zipped his coat back up tight and switched off the lamp, not feeling like staring at Kurt's old toys and comic books. They were mostly Disney. What a dork.

He stayed in a sulky pile of sullen teenager in the dark until he heard many more footsteps than Kurt and his parents could account for several times over. Maybe he should have accepted that invitation.


	4. Chapter 4

As the day rolled over into afternoon, Kurt started to relax. He had his inducer on, but he was no longer catching himself staring balefully at fuzzy blue fingers for minutes at a time. Instead, he was dealing with the lunch dishes and starting to think forward to a game of Monopoly. The main challenge was seeing how long it took someone to start cheating. He didn't think they'd ever finished a game in his life. He didn't mind too much as long as there was coffee and he got to be the top hat.

The buzz of the occasional noisy car when the wind hit the right was was an ordinary sound for the kitchen. The road wasn't all that far away. But a slamming door wasn't normal. Or... another one. Kurt swallowed nervously and hurried into the living room. "Mama?"

There was no immediate answer, so he had to go looking. They were both on the couch, bickering amiably. They were perfect and he loved them. _"__There you are. We're reviewing a new rule whereby holding up the bank results in immediate forfeiture of all properties."_

_"__Don't we usually call game over when the bank gets robbed?"_ He should be rushing, but he felt like brain and body were mired and cold. The words came reluctantly. _"__I think it's time to go." _

He suspected they had been putting on the cheerful face just as much as he had. And while he was glad they took him seriously, he wasn't sure how he felt about anyone trusting his judgmentwhen everything was his fault to begin with. He fetched the bags he was in charge of the ordinary way, saving his strength for the trip. Teleporting two passengers was hard. Going his full range was hard. When he landed on the dusty floor of the cabin, arms around his parents, he was definitely woozy. But he wasn't done.

Kurt dropped the backpack and duffel bag with a thunk, kissed his mother and hugged his father, and blinked away before they realized he had any such thing planned.

Hedy was his first target. When he landed back in the kitchen, she was barking her silly head off. He didn't blame her, considering the stream of people he could see through a gap in the curtains, filling up the yard. He couldn't make out any detail, what with the glass and the chaotic noise only an angry mob could manage. All he was sure of was that he was very glad he'd moved when he had.

He only wasted a few seconds trying to assess the situation. It was something he'd dreamed of in variously vivid detail all his life. Didn't really need a view now. He wrapped an arm around Hedy and ported to the cellar.

To his credit, Todd had just managed not to panic. Half of his hope had come from the idea that no one would to storm and burn a woodshed, but he wasn't surprised at all to see a slightly cross-eyed, wobbly Kurt. He immediately linked arms with the other boy and was almost immediately staggering on the floor of a little cabin, wishing teleporting wasn't such a stomach-churning sensation.

It only took a second to stop seeing spots. He briefly nodded at his first close-up view of Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, noting with surprise that they looked surprised, but not hostile. That was new. He'd always just exuded an aura of no-goodnik that made nice people shy away. Then he turned to Kurt, who was leaning heavily on the wall.

"You okay, furball?"

"Ja. Kind of a rough landing. Hard couple of trips." He smiled, then walked over to his parents and knelt in front of them. They were also on the floor, as the only chair had a broken leg, but it still felt like a position of supplication.

_"__I was going to tell you. I feel awful. Awful about everything. It's a very long story, and it's wound up with-"_

His father stopped him with a raised hand. _"__He's your friend."_ Nod. _"__He's a mutant as well."_ Nod. _"__He needs to stay here?"_ Nod. _"__The rest can wait until you don't look ready to throw up or faint. Here."_ He reached into one of the bags and fished out a little silvered flask.

Kurt tossed back a generous swig and immediately regretted it. _"__My lungs may be on fire."_

_"__But you're much more collected,"_ his mother assured him pleasantly with a pat on the head. _"__No one gives good vodka to a sixteen year old."_

_"__Seventeen next month,"_ he said petulantly, wanting to just put his head down on whatever part of a bag contained mostly wool socks and be miserable.

Somehow, Todd found being vaguely welcomed but mostly ignored infinitely more awkward than getting kicked out into the snow. With his arms wrapped around his knees, he eyed Hedy as she panted, apparently the only comfortable one here. "Nobody here but us chickens, huh, bear?"

She licked him and he backed up until he hit the wall. One wouldn't expect Todd to be that sensitive to tongue slime, but he wasn't a big fan of dogs and their ways of showing affection that felt an awful lot like a preamble to a toad sandwich.

He stayed pretty still while the grown-ups bustled around. It looked like the place was in pretty good condition, and it finally had a little space heater. There were three sleeping bags and the pile of blankets Todd had grabbed with his free arm when his rescuer arrived. Kurt curled up on those and passed out the second his mother told him to. Todd actually thought about getting up and helping, but quite aside from his aversion to work, he didn't want to go digging in their bags. Talk about invading the nice, happy family. He tried to ignore the conversations he couldn't follow and the dog who he was still pretty sure was gonna eat him, and the end of it was one of the least pleasant afternoons spent cowering in a corner hoping to escape a mob he'd ever endured.

He got some relief when Kurt finally woke up, still looking groggy but trying to put on a brave face. Todd opted to annoy him. Might put the spring back in his step. "So, uh, I'mma just go ahead an' let the guys know you need your mommy to put you down for a nap if you poof too hard."

Kurt just smirked and Todd winced as a rolled up magazine came down on his head with a sharp thwack. "Sorry, were you thinking my parents don't know English?"

"Guess I was kinda dependin' on it." It hadn't actually hurt, but he didn't think of Kurt's pretty, ordinary mom as the swatting type. Maybe he just wasn't very good at people. "So, uh, there a plan?"

"We lay low until it's good and dark and I head back to look things over. Maybe we can just go home. I mean, crazy anti-mutant mobs can't have too much of an attention span, ja?" Kurt tried to smile, but going for upbeat hope he wound up with an uncertain grimace.

There'd almost certainly be damage to the house. He didn't know what would have happened to Hedy if he'd left her. Hopefully a few broken windows would be the worst of it.

"Kurt." Both boys turned. Todd hadn't heard much from Kurt's dad. Seemed like a quiet kinda guy, and there was nothing much to read in his expression.

If one was a stranger, anyway. It would enough to see fear in his father's face, but there was clearly a confession coming, and he hated those. Maybe he'd been a little too quick to dismiss the unspoken and the secret in this family.

He went on-in English, for Todd's benefit. He understood better than he spoke, so the words came slowly. Kurt really would have preferred to rush through this, but it was not to be. "Too many saw you here when you were a child, Mausi." Kurt didn't protest the pet name. "The film they took of you and the other students was very clear. Mutants have been unsafe here. There was an incident in Munich... The girl was in the right, but one of her attackers won't walk again. I've had some trouble doing the food shopping..."

"Don't sound worse than Bayville," Todd observed. Kurt glared at him and he noticed very interested glances from both parents. Oops, blew someone's cover there.

"The point right now," Kurt said acidly. "Is my parents were targets because of rumors and memories. This has been waiting to happen." He covered his face in his hands a moment. There was a whole lot they didn't tell him. "They aren't going to get bored and go home."

"Probably not, Engelchen," his mother said with a sigh. Todd was surprised to note she had less of an accent than the Crawler.

"I'm going back to look." Both of them looked like they'd have liked to stop him, but they didn't. Kurt switched off the inducer. It was dark enough that he could blend into the shadows a little.

"You want me to come, bro?" Todd wasn't that enthusiastic. Jumping right into the line of fire wasn't his idea of fun. But if he didn't offer, he might get bopped with a rolled-up newspaper again. "You, uh, you might be slippery, but you don't dole out the hits too bad."

"I'll just teleport if I'm in a tough spot. Stay here and watch them." Kurt nodded to his parents and poofed.

Well, this would be awkward.

Without any sympathy for the Toad, Kurt landed in a comfortable old elm tree far enough from the house that he didn't expect to have to worry about surprising anyone. Any plans to quickly assess the situation and pop back were abandoned as his own little whiff of smoke and burst of heat were blasted to nothing by the inferno in front of him.

Feeling numb, he circled the place a little ways, hopping soundlessly from tree to tree.

It was just the house. There was only one tree close enough to have caught while someone stood watching and ready to douse the flames. It had been a great tree. The slippery bark didn't scratch if one missed a step and had to scramble to stay on, and it provided easy roof access for someone who hadn't yet started teleporting.

This had been planned. Burn the demon. He got the idea.

Any hopes he'd had of saving the place died with an awful crash as half the second story collapsed. The house and yard had been Kurt's whole world most of his life. He knew he should be glad that they'd all gotten out safely, but all he could think of were the blue and red teacups that never left the top cabinet and the heavy brown mugs that had stood full and hot whenever anyone was awake, the shelf of battered board games, the baby grand piano that had belonged the the only grandparent he'd had a chance to meet, all the books a political historian and a freelance science writer needed on hand, a box of diaries shoved under a bed.

A baby blanket and a cheap stuffed bear grown over with mold.

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, not sure if he was keeping tears at bay or trying to find them, until a shout closer than the roaring flames startled him back to life. He heard a rifle fired as he ported back.

It was the visceral ugliness of the gun that did him in. He'd faced much scarier weapons, but they were so wrapped up in elaborate explanations and silly design that they felt like props for X-adventures. A battered old hunting weapon didn't mean anything but that someone had wanted him dead. He was crying as he landed back in the cabin.

Todd immediately tried to disappear in his corner. He'd been kind of hoping to rag on fuzzy about his stupid nicknames, but as soon as he smelled acrid smoke that overpowered the usual puff of sulfur, he knew better. Even the dog ditched him to go fuss over the Crawler. They didn't talk much, and what little he did hear was in German. It really wasn't his business. Wasn't like he couldn't guess.

He dragged the armful of blankets and pillows over to where he'd be out of the way and let things go silent. The tiny little room smelled like a hundred things; hot plate and space heater, smoke, wet wool, damp dog, fear. But with his face down in the pillow, the mixture of kurt's shampoo and that spicy flower almost overwhelmed the toad ordure.

He was almost asleep (and a lot happier for it) when he felt a gentle pat on the shoulder. Not Kurt. Normal number of fingers. He rolled over to a tin bowl of canned soup and a travel mug of instant coffee. "There you are." She didn't look at him like slime, or even like he deserved for being here while their lives fell apart and they should have been wrapped up in each other. She reached down and ruffled his greasy hair just like he was a normal kid.

"Furball there has the best mom ever," he said, in lieu of more conventional thanks.

"Oh, hush, your mother would be heartbroken." She smiled and headed back across the little space to join her husband in zipped together sleeping bags, turning off their little lantern as she did.

Todd frowned a but. Kurt seemed upset and a little awkwardly solicitous about his life, but it didn't look like Mrs. Wagner really had room for it in her brain. Adorable. If it weren't for Wanda, he might be in love. Didn't usually go for good girls, but he did see the allure in an elegant older woman. And there was something classic in it, like a snazzy old car or guitar. Friend's mom crush. Classy-like.

He was pretty used to fuzzy-as-friend now, conceptually. He downed his cream of mushroom in a few gulps, surprised at how hungry he was. This wasn't really a long time for him to go between non-bug meals. He was getting spoiled. Back against the wall, he sipped the coffee uncertainly. He wanted to be able to get to sleep. This was all too much for him.

Todd killed his own camping lantern, but before he could curl up again, he noticed two slits of yellow light aimed at him from the other side of the room. He cocked his head in confusion and the eyes let him know Kurt was nodding. Alright, now he was in on a conspiracy. That was more his style. He hurried on the rest of the coffee, zipped back up, and waited. Once the old folks were snoring, he stood and Kurt ported them outside.

The woods smelled like smoke. Todd stood facing a slight glow so Kurt wouldn't have to. It wasn't all he'd ever treasured rising into the heavens, after all. "What's up, fuzzy?"

"The castle. You said it was being monitored for mutant activity."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure they meant by you guys, but, hell, I dunno. Could be, uh, like those guys in the black helicopters for all I know."

"I'd rather get the professor, but I'll thumb a ride with Shield if I have to." To Todd's questioning noise, he elaborated. "We're going now. Getting right in the middle and sending out the mutant signal, ja? Someone'll have to come check it out."

"Might not be too much help. Magneto only brought me because it don't count when I do stuff. I guess cause I'm always on I don't show up, maybe? Guess I could try slimin' stuff."

"Sure. Can't hurt. So you're in?"

Creepy castle with nightmare lab... Nice warm cabin with a lady who made cookies... Oh, damn, he was a moron. "Sure, but only 'cause yer mom's hot."

"If we get out of this alive, I'm going to kill you," Kurt said in fiercely cheery tones. He wrapped an arm around Todd's shoulders none-too-gently to teleport.

Huh. Apparently, irritated, smoke-stained fuzzball was a little rougher. _Anyone ever tell you you're just like your mom?_ At least he had the sense to think it and not say it. Especially since, if Kurt had heard that one, he might just take it the wrong way. Which was actually the correct way, of course, but not for acknowledging.

Still, would have been a good joke if he'd actually delivered it. Dude was a dude, so it didn't matter.

He shook his head a couple times as they landed and tried not to think too hard about their location. Fuzzy was already popping up and down the walls, and probably in and out of the building, like a jumping bean behind a strobe light. It was pretty funny to watch, actually. Todd spat slime twice before it felt like a stupid idea. He wasn't just an obvious freak mutie. He was a useless mutie.

Kurt finally materialized next to him again, panting. Maybe he shouldn't have tried that after he'd slept hours away from long trips with passengers. "Think that'll do it?"

"If anyone's watchin' powers in here, they got that. But what do you figure they do about it?" Todd looked thoughtful, which was pretty weird on him. Maybe he only did that when he thought no one could see him. Without night vision like his, Todd would have been a vaguely starlit silhouette.

"I didn't think of that. If they just send a drone or something..." Damn. He'd had high hopes, even if he had had to face the prospect of bringing his parents here.

"I had another idea. Gimme the image inducer."

"Huh?" Kurt instinctively pulled his arm back possessively. "Why?"

"It's connected is why. Little thing pings back to some kinda computer. Maybe Cerebro. No idea. Don't have the processing power to handle all the shit it does by itself." Todd smirked. "Noticed that time I, y'know, stole it and ruined your life an' all."

"Ja, remind me to get you back for that." He unbuckled the watch. "So, what, are you going to send an email to the professor?"

"Nah, can't do that. I'm just gonna get someone's attention. All it does is make a thing you're supposed to look like an' store that, I figure. So we gotta make whatever program that is scream."

"What? How? You can't use the Sims to send a distress call. What are you going to do, give me a shirt that says SOS?"

"You play the Sims?" He wasn't a big video game guy, but Deathcore Explosor Part IV, sure. The Sims?

"...Shut up. It's Kitty's."

"That's gay, yo." Made him feel a little better about enjoying being manhandled for teleportation purposes, even when Kurt kicked snow at him. "Anyway, nah, I'm just gonna screw it up all I can. Baldy probably prefers you not... y'know..." He'd been about to say "attacked by a mob", but... Yeah, even he had that much tact. "Lookin' like modern art. So hopefully he keeps a little track of when it's broken."

"Which it does all the time. He does usually know, though." Kurt nodded his approval. "So you probably won't be able to fix it." He'd be without that line of defense.

"Nah, that'd ruin it. But how much worse can this get, huh?" He fiddled with the watch until it blinked a few times and made a sad little beeping sound.

Kurt accepted it back sadly. Even if he didn't want to use it, it was a talisman. It promised an escape. "Uh..." Didn't want to be down on Todd when he'd had a decent idea. "Guess you're kind of a computer whizz?"

"I get by."

"You ever met Forge?"

"Must be in a different country club. Anyway, now he might know to come look for us. Otherwise, uh... Yeah, let's get back where it's warm." He stepped over and Kurt ported them back again.


	5. Chapter 5

"Kurt Adelbert Wagner!"

Busted... But this time, Todd just couldn't help it. "Adelbert?"

"It was my grandfather's name."

Ah, well. "...Mine's Mortimer."

"You're a good man." He patted Todd's shoulder and submitted to a scolding he probably deserved.

It made him feel better to finally be told he'd been stupid and irresponsible, even if it was for this infraction and not the big one. He'd deal. He also got himself out of a lot of the tongue-lashing he'd had coming by half smiling and looking so patient through the whole that his mother ran out of steam.

He jumped in before she could find something else to vent her irritation about. "I may have found us a safe way out," he said, keeping with their decision to try and speak English for Todd's sake. The little weirdo actually had some good ideas, so keeping him in the loop seemed like a good call despite the big mouth problem.

"Aside from waiting until it's safe and getting to the train station?" His mother asked, still stern.

"Ja, that's an ok backup plan, but aren't you worried? If they want to find us, they probably could, and I'm not sure I even _could_ port us all at once." If the Toad weren't here... But there'd still be Hedy, and the rule against resentment for what couldn't be helped persisted, even when it didn't apply to family in this particular case. "There's a spot near here that's being monitored for mutants. By friendly forces, I mean!" He hoped. He was still optimistic about it being Professor Xavier.

They didn't bite as quickly as he'd hoped. "Monitored how?" his father asked.

"For powers. That's, uh, that's why Todd was here, to check something out there..." Verdammt. That was going to raise questions later. And he'd had such a great plan for how to explain that. He plowed on before they could pursue it, pretending he didn't hear an deriding sigh from behind him. "And that's where we went. To ping that system. So hopefully, we've got attention and someone will come to check us out, so we'd better all go and wait there."

Kurt finished a little breathlessly and realized that his fantastic tactical machinations sounded a little... silly when he actually explained them to civilians. Todd was used to taking wild chances and throwing together crazy solutions, even if he was usually on the losing side. It was just part of what they did, fighting each other or assorted bad guys. He hadn't really let his parents in on that part of his life.

"And, uh, for some insurance, Todd got my inducer to send a signal..." That was even more of a crapshoot, of course. Kurt's body language made a comically quick transition from emphatic and determined to little kid trying to explain why he'd thought he could fix the kitchen sink.

"Where is this very interesting place?" his mother asked. Kurt had had to put up with their good cop/bad cop method all his life, but all the pressure he was under at the moment was making it a lot worse.

And that wasn't even accounting for the question she'd really had no choice but to ask, since he didn't want to volunteer the information. He closed his eyes and veered almost toward tears. He slipped back into German. _"__Oh, you know. Haunted castle."_

If he'd meant to shut them up-he really hadn't, but it wasn't the worst outcome-he'd chosen the right words. They were all quiet for a moment.

"You think it will be safe?" his father asked in an odd monotone.

Kurt half wanted to burst out with demands to know why they'd never spoken about any of this, why he'd had to find out from a stranger, whether everybody knew but him... And how knowledge of a foreboding old building on top of an unreachable cliffside might have suggested what threat mutants could pose to the people in town. "Safer than here, probably. And I can bring us back if nothing happens."

"I think we'd better go in the morning," his mother said firmly. "The three of us will be blind as Hedy for the next few hours, otherwise." Though she did shoot an inquiring look at Todd.

"Nah, blue boy there's the one who can do that. I bump into stuff without streetlights." And with them, and in broad daylight, but they didn't have to talk about it now.

Kurt's father gave him an understanding nod. Which was nice and all, but he had even less idea of how to deal with that than the motherly fussing. As with all his daydreams, Todd didn't venture into wholly unexplored territory. He knew a little bit about what a mom could and should be like. Dads? No context at all.

"When we first left the city, you should have seen us."

"Oh, yeah? What city?" Todd had kind of been picturing them as happy farmers. Sure, Kurt had told him there wasn't actually a farm, but he wasn't totally clear on what a farm constituted besides a bunch of animals and probably some corn or what people did if they lived in the country and didn't feed pigs and stuff.

"East Berlin, and then Munich," answered Kurt's mother. "We ought to try and get what sleep we can."

East Berlin? Was that the one that was on TV a lot when he was a kid? He was pretty sure that was East something, but the discussion seemed to be over. Todd curled back up on his pile of blankets and this time he went right to sleep.

Right up until watery gray light and packing noises roused him again, anyway. This time, Todd did try to help a little. Now that they were actually going to Castle Baby Torture, and apparently the folks had some idea of what that meant for their kid, it was a little tense in here. Moving blankets around gave him a reason to twitch around nervously with his back to the family.

"Here's what we'll call breakfast," said the soft, sweet voice he might decide to fall in love with if things didn't work with Wanda. Todd turned around to accept what seemed to be a home-made granola bar (cute) and realized she was staring past him.

"Huh?"

"Oh. That... That's Aunt Clothilda's quilt." She bent down and lifted a pink and blue blanket off the pile. He was confused until he remembered that their whole house had gone up in smoke. Todd wasn't a one for treasured possessions. They just got taken away on the rare occasion he tried. But he figured he could see what an old blanket might mean all of a sudden.

"Danke, Froschschenkel." She ruffled his hair and then picked up the whole stack, moving them into the pile at the center of the room.

He spent a pleasant moment being dazed, but the bear's cold nose shocked him out of it. Then he realized he'd been outmaneuvered. He didn't know what the word meant, but he'd definitely just been given a nickname that managed to be cutesy and still sound like turtles gargling. If he ever tried to make fun of the Crawler on that account, Kurt could fling it right back.

Beautiful and dangerous. He was gonna marry that lady.

"Hey, Tolansky! Catch!" He held up his hands just in time to grab the silver flask out of the air. Reeked of cheap liquor from here. "It'll keep you warm while we're moving around."

Yeah, he might just have to marry the whole family. And throw Wanda in there too. What the hey. Todd only actually managed a few drops from the thing, because he hadn't realized people drank gasoline out of little bottles. He tossed the flask back, trying not to turn greener than usual.

"Boys." And with a word, she managed to make them all look guiltily at their feet. "You have something worked out, Kurt?"

"Ja, Mama." Kurt was feeling very clever. It was a little like solving that puzzle about the chicken, the fox, and the bag of corn. "It's only about a kilometer and some away, as the Nightcrawler teleports. So if I take one at a time, and each of you just has one bag, then I don't think I'll get worn out." Not enough sleep, disagreeable food, and abject horror barely kept at bay by a veneer of cheerfulness were a factor, too, but he didn't let on. "And then the leftover bags last. I don't think we'll need to rush, even, unless we hear the X-jet coming, or something."

"Why's that guy have the X-everything, anyways?" Todd tried to calculate when his turn would be. After the dog, probably. Maybe before the luggage, if he was good. Which he had no particular intention of being.

"Oh, it's a marketing campaign. We're gonna have bumper stickers, keychains... Kitty's made these little plushies of me we're calling Bamfs. Very cuddly." Blue boy managed the line with such a perfect deadpan delivery Todd almost believed him for a second. "Extra credit in Home Ec. She needed it."

"Who needs extra credit in home ec?"

"Anyone whose brownies can knock out Logan. Taken internally or as projectiles." Kurt zipped up the last bag. "...Wait, you took Home Ec?"

"Got me outta a gym class, yo."

"Aw. Will you teach me how to make a souffle?"

"That's enough. Time to go." Kurt's mother grabbed hold of his arm and he ported after a pause just long enough that Todd caught his pained expression. Banter he might, but he wasn't looking forward to getting back to that castle.

Kurt had figured on being able to port out if there were signs of trouble here, but the courtyard was quiet. Quieter than he wanted it to be. Instead of zapping back immediately, he stopped and stared at his mother with a hangdog expression. It was starting to snow and so quiet...

_"__We didn't know very much, Mausi. But more than we told you, and that was wrong of us." _She sighed._ "__There were rumors in town. Not a lot, or not that were shared with those odd academics who'd only moved into an old farmhouse a few years before. The castle was just a piece of local history, once, but the disasters and campfire stories started before we arrived. You weren't even the first strange thing to float by in the river, though you were by far the sweetest."_ She leaned in and kissed his forehead.

_"__I understand."_ He supposed it would have been hard to tell a child he came from a haunted castle. The party line from years had been that fairies had dropped him down the chimney, and once he got tired of that, a vague word about overseas adoption had contented him. He'd just figured he'd been abandoned. Hadn't even been really curious until Rogue's vision had brought it all home. _"__I'll go get Papi."_

His father, Todd, and the dog all looked a little worried when he ported back, but he simply said he'd taken a little while to rest and make sure there was nothing too bad waiting for them. He ported his father in silence and found his mother staring at the cracked front door as she waited.

_"__I don't think we should go inside if we can help it,"_ Kurt suggested quietly. Maybe if he'd done enough exploring to know where the safer spots were. He didn't think Todd had thought to close the door to the awful little nursery. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder whether the other little cribs had ever been filled, what had become of those children. The simplest idea was that he might have shared the space with Wanda and Pietro, though they were a little older than he was. He hoped that was the case, since at least he knew what had happened to them.

_"__Are you alright? Yesterday was so much,"_ his father asked, catching his arm.

Kurt realized he probably looked a little ill. "_I'm fine. I'll just finish this round of trips and I can rest. Keep an ear out for a plane."_

When he got back to the cabin he held his hand out for Todd, but the shorter boy shook his head and nodded at Hedy. Who looked perfectly content. "She don't like it when you port your folks out, man. Take her."

Kurt would have argued, but there didn't seem to be any reason to hurry.

A bad call, as when he hurried back it was just in time for a bullet to smash through a window.

Todd had had a very bad feeling, and an early childhood in the right kind of neighborhood for the occasional stray bullet served him well. He was flat on the floor, eyes wide but not quite panicked. Sometimes panicking was both cathartic and rewarding, but not just now. When Kurt opted to stand and gape like a wounded faun (but didn't seem to have developed any oozy new holes), Todd kicked his knees out from under him and he landed with a grunt.

"Might have gone an' looked somewhere else, but you had to stand by a window."

"Gott im Himmel." Kurt groaned. "When will it end? Here, give me your arm, and I'll get us out."

Todd reached out and grabbed the bags first. He didn't trust the small store at the castle to feed four humans and a dog, and the quilt was still there. Had to bring that back to Frau Wagner.

He and Kurt caused brief panic by landing in the snow completely prone, but Kurt cleared that up by leaping to his feet. "I'm going to see how far they've moved. If they're close, we need another plan."

_"__You absolutely will not!" _His mother snapped, clearly torn between hugging and throttling.

"I'm in, fuzzy." Todd sat up, wondering what was wrong with him. Self preservation was one thing, and it probably was best to know how close the scary German rednecks were. But the Crawler could do that on his own. Todd wasn't even that good at stealthy.

"Neither of you is in anything! What happened?"

"You sure?" Kurt wasn't up to arguing. He'd get forgiveness later. If the arsonists with guns were getting near his family, he needed to know.

Furball wasn't all that good if he had to actually hit. Couldn't even out-wrestle the Toad, after all. If it came to that... He didn't really want the X-geek to get shot in the face. Probably up there with being anti-baby torture on the list of stuff he really shouldn't let get out. Could screw up his reputation. "Yeah."

And chances to back out were limited a bit by Kurt hauling him to his feet and porting at the same moment, so he landed feeling like a sack of potatoes. He thought the guy looked kind of peaky, but it was hard to tell with the fur and he shimmied up a tree without any apparent problems. They were maybe fifty yards from the cabin where they'd just been shot at with a long-range gun. It wouldn't have been Todd's first pick for a scouting location, but he crawled up the trunk anyway.

"See anyone?"

Todd squinted. The leafless trees didn't provide a lot of cover, but the sun was up now and the glare on the snow was dazzling. Maybe that would hide them a little. "Nope. How're we even doin' this, anyways?"

"All the perimeter drills I've done have been with the whole team," Kurt protested with a sigh. "And it's not like we've got Logan or anything. I didn't think about them spreading out..."

"You ain't allowed to make the plans anymore." Todd looked around. "I'd say we cover two circles movin' outward, with breaks fer you before y'knock yerself out again. We go in quarter mile jumps, alternate between cardinal an' ordinal directions, an' then switch to half-circles toward the castle. Roughly, anyways. We got rocks an' shit in the way."

Kurt blinked a couple times. "Was?"

"I gotta say again?"

"Nein, uh, I think I got it." Where in God's green earth had that come from? "That's going to mean a lot of trips, but since they'll be short, I think I got it."

So Kurt was probably going to exhaust himself, especially bringing an armful of toad along. Todd sighed. There didn't seem to be an easy way out. He was silent as they made the jumps he'd suggested, popping up at fairly random points. Kurt apparently didn't know the landscape very well even a little ways from the family home. He seemed a little more wobbly on the tree branches and rocks they chose as vantage points every time, but he kept his head up.

Then they landed outside a very old looking church.

"Place looks empty," Todd observed, after they'd stayed still a minute. They'd spotted people moving but not been seen in turn while they hopped around the woods. Was this just a good place for a break? "Wanna pop in an' you can rest for a few?"

"I just wanted to make sure it was still here." Kurt sighed. "Father Almeric almost never even comes up anymore, but... Just in case."

"Think he might of put them up to the house thing?" Todd harbored certain hostilities and had also watched way too many bad movies. A creepy priest with a horror story name seemed like just the way to start a weird commando raid on a nice family's house.

So he was surprised to find Kurt glaring at him. "I was afraid they might have come after him, too."

Oh. Not that so much, then. "Oh, uh, like... He's a mutie-lover?"

"I don't think he'd have thought to call himself that. He'd just- He spent most of the second world war in a prison camp when he wasn't much older than us. He didn't have a lot of patience for treating one kind of people differently than another, is the bottom line." Kurt smiled fondly. "All he did was be nice to me, but that might be enough for those people."

Todd nodded. Even he had the historical background to follow. "How come he even knew about you? Weren't you all secret?"

"Accident. He did an interview for one of Mama's books, and then he was driving by and thought he'd drop off some files instead of mail them. It wasn't quite sunset and I really wasn't _supposed_ to be in the garden, but what can I say? I'm a free spirit."

"So, what, the bear try to eat him?"

"I was four years old. You could still fit Hedy in the breadbox back then."

"...You did that, didn't you?"

"I wanted to see if it would work."

"Why didn't she try and eat you?"

"She had tiny teeth. Anyway, I hid under the porch and my parents panicked, but he managed to convince them it was okay. This church isn't really active anymore, since it's so little and out of the way. He just came up every few months to dust and we'd go in. He made sure I did my sacraments on time and stuff."

God stuff. So weird. "So it's cool here."

"Guess they didn't know."

"Sure. So you rest down here while I run up to look around." And before Kurt could try and claim to be feeling his best and totally fantastic, he skittered up the side of the church. Probably offending God-boy on the way, but the building had to be really old, right? So it could take some small measure of slime. And when would he get a chance to climb a whole church again? Once he'd reached the steeple, the thrill wore out and he was just cold. A quick scan of the woods showed him one pretty big group of people moving uphill.

Todd climbed about halfway down, cut his losses, and dropped into the snow. It was not as fluffy as it had looked from up there. Kurt hurried over and helped him up. "What'd you see?"

He appreciated the lack of questions about his relative wellness. There were bruises, but nothing much worse than usual. "There's people movin' around. Couldn't see too well with all the glare, but betcha they ain't sellin' girl scout cookies, fool."

Kurt sighed. "Which way?"

Todd had discovered he had a decent sense of direction out here, now that the mere presence of trees wasn't too confusing and he'd gotten used to a soundscape backed by muffling snow instead of traffic. He could find anything in the city, and apparently he'd be an okay survivalist, too. "think it's the way we don't want 'em to."

"And if you could get up and down that hill now, people who've lived here all their lives will be able. I hope that snow covered up your tracks."

"If it didn't, maybe they'll figure someone bounced a blow-up doll fulla beanie babies down the mountain." Todd was the first to admit that a hopping teenager in a parka left a pretty weird trail. If they were lucky, that'd work to their advantage. "Think we should call off the rest of the recon and let your parents in on this stuff?"

"I guess so. Though Mama might just chain us up in the basement to keep us from going out to be shot at again." Kurt stretched, trying and failing to mask mounting panic with badass nonchalance. "Come on." He held out a hand, and Todd noticed the grubby glove had two fingers. Yup, Ma Wagner even knitted gloves.

Better bring her kid back in one piece of she'd never run off with him. "You should make it in two parts, maybe."

"I'm fine. We've wasted enough time, and one more touchdown is one more time for them to spot us."

Todd still thought he looked whatever color a blue guy turned instead of green, but he had a point. "Okay, but then maybe you let them tie you up."

"Fine, fine." Kurt wrapped his arm around Todd's, the Toad enjoyed the faux-intimate squeeze, and they ported toward safety.

Generally. Kurt wasn't aware of the actual process of dropping through dimensions, for which he was grateful. His time between one point and another was infinitesimally small. Whenever he'd tried to describe the physical sensation, he'd have compared it to jumping. Spot the distance, brace, and make the leap. Kurt had been hurling himself off everything and onto anything as long as he could toddle, so the analogy was solid.

But even the Crawler tripped once in a while, particularly when exhausted, already feeling ill, and the pressure from within and without was crushing. Even in the milliseconds he spent between, he felt himself start to fall. When he landed back on solid ground, his knees buckled and he landed on his side in the snow.

"Toldja so, Nightcreeper," Todd said, reeling a little. He'd barely gotten used to teleporting even after going through it all morning, and then that trip had been a whole new level of disorienting nausea. So now he was the one trying out dry bravado, and it wasn't any better at covering up his worry than when Kurt had given it a shot. On the ground and surrounded by scrubby trees, he had no idea how close they were or even if they'd gone in the right direction. Could be anti-mutie miliatia anywhere and his transportation looked down for the count.

Oh, yeah, and the furball was in bad shape. Problem.

"I'm fine," Kurt said weakly, figuring lies weren't so bad when they were transparent. There was no actual deception involved, right? "Just... give me a minute."

"Maybe you better not try again? We could... Could we walk? You didn't just drop us off in Russia somewhere?"

Kurt rolled onto his back and managed to look almost as offended as he did ill. "Not even possible. We're probably pretty close."

"So maybe, y'know, we oughtta wa-"

"Shh." Kurt half sat up, closed his eyes tightly against a wave of dizziness, and cocked his head. He didn't have anything like the kind of super-senses Wolverine and Sabretooth did, but the shape of his ears gave him a little edge and he was used to sound moving through snow and trees. "Time to go." He lurched forward and grabbed Todd's ankle.

This sensation was even stranger. He started the jump and then felt himself yanked back like someone had hooked a bungee cord on his tail. He was sitting right where he had been, wisps of smoke curling above his head and the snow around him melted much more than his usual burst of heat would explain.

Todd wanted to demand an explanation, even though he was pretty sure there wasn't one. Complaining was his way of showing concern, albeit mostly for himself. But a combination of suddenly melting snow underfoot and instinct dropped him to the ground instead.

So the shot missed him.

He dived for the nearest cover and shot straight up the tree. Kurt moved in the closest thing to elegant a dazed, snow-impeded crabwalk could be, but a winter-stripped bush wasn't going to hide him. He stared disbelievingly at the figure leveling the rifle at him. The man looked ready to run and normally Kurt would have popped over and taken the gun away before he could hurt anyone. But who knew where he'd land if he tried?

Remembering the professor's creed and what he understood of his mother's theories, he took a shot at diplomacy. _"__Please, I don't have any intention of hurting anyone. We're just trying to leave. Let us be and we'll be-"_

He hoped that the fact that the shot only barely grazed his shoulder meant that the man hadn't actually tried to kill him. An experienced hunter firing at a stationary target through nothing more than some branches should have been able to pick any spot he wanted.

It had a lot more to do with Todd Tolansky kicking him in the face. Not something he'd thought about, since he would have laughed at the idea of getting closer to a gun if he had. But he'd moved before thoughts could kick in and the guy was moaning on the ground with a broken nose. Todd could already see more hurrying through the trees. He bounced back toward Kurt like a toad out of hell. Before he could get anything out, Kurt grabbed him around the waist and ported.

They came out at the castle, but about fifteen feet higher than Kurt had planned. Todd shrieked and sprawled, distributing the impact and providing an outlet for his feelings about gravity. Kurt tucked and rolled, each as was their wont.

Both more-or-less stunned, the boys lay still in the snow. Before they could get to the point of nervous laughter or struggling to sit up, a mobile glinting something made Todd jump about a foot in the air, but it proved to be a broken off bottle in Mrs. Wagner's hand.

"You are just a stone-cold badass, Miz V." So he'd never seen "Wagner" written down.

"I should throttle the both of-_Kurt, what happened?"_ She dropped the bottle and rushed forward, husband and dog close behind her.

Kurt hadn't even really felt the damage to his arm, as much because he already felt so lousy from porting too much that it got lost as from wildly pumping adrenaline. But having someone else notice the bullet wound seemed to give it some cue. It wasn't the worst pain he'd experienced by far. He'd been very lucky and the wound wasn't deep, but the simple fact that he'd been shot made him tremble a little.

But he still wouldn't own up to it.

Privately, Todd thought it was the weirdest damn thing he'd seen today, skinny blue kid lying his head off and quaking like a leaf while his parents tried to both pour all their attention into a little scrape that wasn't even bleeding that bad. And the dog tried to lick him. Weird, but kind of...

Well, not for him, anyway. He turned and hopped over to the wall, figuring he'd try and see if they had company coming. He was really hoping the answer was no, that the combination of bad roads and high cliff and some confusing stories being passed around would keep the bastards far away from Castle Baby Torture. Which was a hell of a hideaway.

No such luck. The view was pretty good from up here, and it wasn't hard to spot human shapes clustering around the far side of a half-ruined bridge.

For most of his life, Todd had accepted that he was the one in the wrong in just about all circumstances. He'd gotten so he embraced it. Abuse the Toad Day was most days, but who was gonna care? He was a freak even to the freaks and a creep on top of it. Heads, the world wins, tails, the Toad loses, and everyone else was the better for it.

So it was incredibly foreign to feel a rising sense of protectiveness, of righteous anger. If they wanted to get at the craziest perfect family ever, they'd have to go through the mean little skeezeball to do it.

Kurt was still busy staring at the snow and vaguely protesting as his arm was bandaged. If you looked at the flat white expanse too long, he found, the strangest kaleidoscope patterns seemed to unfold. Blues and greens and purples. He wasn't sure if he'd ever noticed that before. His time with daylight snow had been a little limited.

And as busy as he was trying to lose himself in the light, leaning a little on his father's arm, he was the first to notice as the snow began to dim. It was subtle, but as he watched he was increasingly sure of it.

He heard Toad land beside him, having managed to fall from a more comfortable distance this time. "We got incoming, yo."

"Boys, you'd better go inside," he heard his mother say in a perfectly level, perfectly toneless voice. Yes, it was getting darker, but not evenly. The gray was creeping in from the sides, but the light that came straight down was still bright.

"I don't know how good a hiding spot it'll be. And, uh, maybe Kurt and me had better go first an', uh, close some stuff up..." Weird, Toad had called him by his first name? That was nice. He made a note to himself to call the guy Todd in the same circumstances, unlikely as that seemed.

Definitely darker.

"I think Kurt will need his father to carry him inside, but _I_ will be out here."

"Nein," Kurt said quickly, finding his voice. _"__No, we don't need to go inside. We're alright now."_

"Kurt?" His father pressed a worried hand to his forehead. A futile gesture between fur and mittens. He'd always been hard to check.

"_I mean it. Look."_ He pointed straight up, and finally they stopped fussing and arguing. The sky had been half-hazy all day, but now only what was directly above them showed that milky brightness. All around them was a ring of heavy fog.

His parents were perfectly well aware that fog only formed over snow under very odd weather conditions, but it was Todd who knew enough to see it.

"Aw, yeah, we're-"

The rising roar of a jet with stealth capability and a knack for landing on a dime made it unnecessary for him to finish.

Kurt couldn't see Ororo until the last moment, but memory made up for it. Todd could, once he'd bounded halfway up the wall. His allegiance might be slightly torn between Wanda and Mrs. Wagner and a few particularly nice daydreams, but there was nothing wrong with some aesthetic appreciation for a powerful mutant with supermodel looks. She made the creation of vastly improbable fog banks from the roof of experimental aircraft look _good_.

But his favorite part of the grand entrance had to be the bear barking manically as though the X-jet was a very large mailman.

"Heilige Mutter Gottes," Kurt muttered with an exhausted smile as the door flew open and Logan hopped out.

"Okay, folks, inside. We'll talk later."

Ah, sweet normality. Kurt tried to stand before he'd thought better of it, teetered, and was caught from three directions at once. Two, he was unsurprised to find, were thanks to Logan and his father. The third was an invisible pair of hands that drew his attention back to the plane. "Hi Jean," he said, attempting to sound intact and not worth worrying about and failing dramatically.

"Oh my _God,_ Nightcrawler, what happened to-"

Logan cut her off with just a hint of a growl. "Cool it, Red. Consider this an extraction mission and follow protocol."

While Kurt's parents helped him onto the plane, Logan strode over to the pile of bags, which Todd had been using to pretend to be invisible. He'd already noticed with deep irritation that Hedy was following Wolverine around like he had bacon in his pockets. Which he might. 'Cus he was Canadian. Ha.

Had to be feeling low when a gag that hilarious didn't do it. He raised his gaze from the duffel bags, sure he was about to either be toad-kabob or told to go sit and wait in the castle. For a few heartbeats they were both still. Then Logan tossed a bag to him so hard it half knocked him over. He managed to forgo complaining for once in his life, but only because he was pretty sure Wolverine was what lived under the bed until you were eight.

When he climbed onboard the plane (and wow, it was cool being in here, and not a creepy metal ball that flew), Kurt already looked asleep, slumped in one of the seats with Aunt Clothilda's quilt draped over him. Giving Todd no easy way to hide from an obviously flustered Jean Grey.

The adults were all occupied. Logan had to take off, Storm was coming down off a power jag and copiloting, the Wagners were just breathing for the first safe second they'd had all day, and Hedy had gone to sleep on Kurt's feet.

Just him and the Girl Wonder. "Oh, that's great, an incredibly sensitive recon mission turns into a rescue and we find the Brotherhood in the middle of it."

"Hey, I didn't do nothin'. I'm here... strictly as my own representative." He was now, anyway.

"Oh, that's convenient. That means Magneto's keeping up his end of the bargain, technically. Did you even think about how well fooling a telepath would work?"

Oh, yeah, telepath. Not that he'd been up to anything evil, or anything to do with Magneto that he cared about protecting right now. But a guy was entitled to his thoughts, and he'd had his dug into too many times. "Can we, just, y'know, not?"

Before Jean could snipe at him again, a two fingered hand slid out from under the quilt and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Circumstances are layoffhimful."

"Even I know that ain't a word, fool."

"I'm German. I can make up all the words I want." Kurt tugged the blanket down a little so he could actually see them. Logan didn't exactly do tucking in, but he hadn't minded being covered like an old armchair until now. "It's in the constitution next to beer."

"Shut up, now, everyone," Logan said, cheerfully by his standards. The roaring and shifting of takeoff kept Jean from immediately resuming her diatribes, and she seemed to have run out of steam by the time they leveled off.

And anyway, Todd had fallen asleep, too.


	6. Chapter 6

Bayville was a quiet place on a gray New Year's afternoon. The adult population was mostly either sleeping off hangovers or at the malls and department stores, leaving the stretches of houses and empty lots near the boarding house just about as desolate as midnight. That suited Todd okay. It was gonna take a while to get used to civilization again, not to mention natural conversation.

Awesome, dramatic rescues were great and all, but the movies never covered the part that came after where you had to sit in a plane waiting for a psychic bald man to make enough calls to get visas for a nice couple and get their dog around quarantine. Apparently the guy only laughed in the face of borders when he was in charge of an all-mutie squad.

And that had left Todd with pretty much the dog for company. Kurt had made a few stabs at talking to him, but he'd been asleep for the best part of thirty-six hours, and then it just hadn't flowed the same way. Todd didn't know if it was having his parents around, other X-geeks, or just fatigue. He had seemed kind of quiet, but Todd lacked the modicum of self-esteem that might have suggested there was a lot more on blue boy's mind than snubbing the Brotherhood lowlife he'd accidentally gotten friendly with. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner had been busy with paperwork and phone calls, and as for the other X-losers, they'd pretty much decided across the board to ignore him. So yeah, it was him and the bear.

Companionable chatting in a secret underground chamber with beer in hand and action figures on the floor already seemed to belong to another world, as faraway as any daydream.

So when Wolverine had just walked him out wordlessly, he'd counted himself lucky and hopped on home. He stopped to stare at the steps a moment, considering his best course of action, and then realized that just letting himself in would probably freak everybody the best. If he could be nothing else, damn it, he'd be annoying.

The front entrance was empty, but that didn't surprise him. None of them kept what you'd call civilized hours. He hung up his coat next to one of Wanda's (ah, meant to be). It had been clean and new when handed to him and was now a complete mess, and he couldn't help but feel that was a little unfair. Wasn't his fault. This time.

Irritated beyond reason by that, he forgot about aiming to bug his housemates and hopped to the kitchen in the hopes of finding something hot to imbibe, even if it was just water with indistinct brown powder. As Todd's experience with probability dictated, the moment something stopped feeling like fun, it happened. Though he wasn't in _such_ a bad mood that watching Pietro Maximoff spit-take didn't warm his heart some.

"Got bored waitin' on yah, dawg. Thumbed a ride." He tried not to wish for homemade cocoa as he climbed onto the counter to find two store-brand Coolade knockoffs, a box of Wanda's tea (which was worth anyone's life to touch, even if it hadn't tasted like old people candy), and a half jar of instant coffee. He was damn spoiled all of a sudden.

He tried to ignore the hissing displacement of air that marked Quicksilver's appearance directly behind him. "We left you across an ocean! A big ocean, not one of the puny ones!"

Todd was pleased with his own composure as he fished out one of the few functional mugs in the cupboard. It had its share of chips, but no cracks that went all the way through. It also proclaimed its holder to be the World's Best Grandma, which did kind of raise questions. "Got awesome thumbs, yo."

"Oh, hey, earth to Toad! You are speaking to your leader, and you would do well to remember-"

"Toad?"

Todd and Pietro snapped their heads around in unison, each having their reasons to _pay attention_ when Wanda talked. Todd was particularly pleased, as she was looking at him with something other than visceral contempt.

"Baby!" His enthusiastic wink and half-salute resulted in slightly brown proto-coffee slopping over the side of the mug and landing on his jeans.

There was the scowl again. Well, that had been nice while it lasted. "How did _you_ get back here?"

He hadn't yet had to confront the fact that he didn't know how to talk to any of them about what had happened, in terms of mission brief or just stories. What he'd learned about Magneto was enough to turn even the Toad's stomach and he was even less pleased than usual about Mystique, too. And there was the whole... Kurt thing.

Nope. "Hey, Pietro, remember the time you wouldn't let me tell your sexy sister about daddy havin' her brainwashed?"

As he'd hoped (but not really depended on; what was another bracing Wanda-mauling?) her wrath turned immediately on Pietro, who did his best to flee. Todd went ahead and microwaved his mug, pleased to see the machine worked after just one kick today.

* * *

Kurt envied anyone who got to go see a regular doctor. It would have been inexpressibly awkward sitting on paper while waiting to hear about various tests, but it was worse to have the guy in the lab coat be an affectionate, fatherly friend with deep personal concerns.

Mr. McCoy tapped his clipboard thoughtfully. "Well, lethargy, a touch of hypotension, and the fact that you're down almost ten pounds from what your records say you should be all add up to the beginnings of secondary malnutrition. My theory would be that too much and too stressful teleporting could account for that."

"Ja, I've been eating as much as usual, so that'd have to be it, right?" His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes down. He'd have quickly tried to remedy the problem if he'd realized he couldn't have looked less like himself. Self-awareness was not a personal strength.

"Actually, that would explain a bit about your general habits," his teacher teased. "Perhaps we might see what we can make of a teleporter's metabolism once you're feeling up to it."

For some strange reason, Kurt didn't feel a burst of sudden enthusiasm for having a bunch of wires hooked up to him while a machine beeped. "Maybe."

"But that's for another time." There was a forced cheer in Mr. McCoy's voice now. "For now, I'd say your prescription is a few of those gutblaster things you kids can't seem to get enough of." Kurt couldn't quite find the energy to correct him on the name. "And at least the occasional vegetable. Just to hold off the scurvy. If you don't feel more yourself in a few days, of course, let me know."

"No problem."

"I'll let you get back to your parents, now."

"Oh, they're getting more paperwork in. I'm not going to the hotel before dinner."

"I'll let you go, anyway." A huge hand furrier than his own patted his shoulder gently. "Go and keep Rogue company. And if you get a minute, the professor would like a word."

Kurt froze for a split second, then hopped down from the examination table. "Oh, we talked. When we first landed. He's the one who found that job for my mom at LMU Munich, and he's looking for something for my dad to do, too." Away from home, Kurt was much more aware of the childish pet-names he'd never bothered to stop using for his parents. "Genetics stuff, I guess."

"That isn't what I meant, Kurt." Mr. McCoy sighed and Kurt didn't quite believe his smile. "If you'd rather, there's the counselor at school."

Kurt surprised himself with a smirk, remembering Miss Dao's careful solicitousness over the rather young exchange student who hadn't bothered to think of any reasons to be here or aspirations that would make sense without revealing he was a mutant. She'd wound up very concerned about him and he'd worked hard to avoid her for weeks until she'd given up. Turning up at her office to talk about being chased out of his childhood home by a murderous mob was _almost_ a hilarious idea.

"I'll talk to him. But you were right. I should... Go and spend some time with Rogue." She was joining him for dinner with his parents, but he fled with a few more muttered and disorganized excuses rather than mention that.

Rogue was on the couch, watching something he didn't recognize. She let him sit down in silence and he stared for about five minutes until he was so confused he had to ask. "Is... _anything_ going on?"

"The blond girl is Zenon, and she usually lives on a space station, but she's grounded to earth and just found out that the station's going to be blown up... for insurance money, I think. So she's hitching a ride with a space boy-band."

"You've, uh, seen this one before?"

"Disney Channel Original Movie marathon."

"Wunderbar."

"Ooh, sarcasm from the guy who sings along to the Lion King." She threw a pillow at him.

Kurt caught it and stuck out his tongue. "The Lion King is great."

"You got your movie with talkin' animals, I got mine with space bands."

Teasing his sister made him feel more like himself than he had since Christmas. "Lions don't need space to be cool." Laughing—a soft, stuttering sound, but real—Kurt dodged the next pillow. "Hakuna Matata!"

Out of pillows, Rogue grabbed a cushion and tossed it. She was surprisingly strong for such a skinny girl, and he could tell it'd knock him off balance even if he caught it. So he ported, planning on popping up behind her.

He landed about three feet from where he'd intended, the sort of mistake he hadn't made in years. More disquietingly, he landed on the wall as though it were the floor. The swooping sensation of gravity unexpectedly making a ninety-degree turn was more unpleasant than hitting the ground. He _expected_ that to happen all the time, unhampered by usual notions of up and down as he was, but anticipation was the difference between collapsing comfortably into bed and being shoved to the ground.

Oh, and he'd landed on his injured shoulder. He rubbed at it ruefully before he noticed Rogue watching with obvious concern.

"Would you believe I did that on purpose?" he tried, hoping for his usual refuge in screwing around.

"Maybe we better go see if we can find the professor," Rogue said evenly. "I did hear you port funny when you're sick."

"Man, Kitty's never going to let me live that down," he said, still reaching for a joke, any joke, that would stick. "I just came from Mr. McCoy. It's not like it would be news to anyone."

"Says you."

"Come on, Rogue, they'd just worry some more, and what if they didn't want us to go for dinner?" He wasn't above a little cajoling. "I want you to meet my parents."

"Ew, that sounds like a date," she said, managing to scowl and smirk at the same time.

"Ew," he agreed, straightening up. "But seriously. They're already ready to adopt you."

"They are now. What happens when they meet me?"

Trust Rogue to suck the joy out of a room with far more determination than he ever could. "Dress shopping, probably. Mama did always want a girl."

"And not lettin' you cut your hair didn't quite do it?"

"Hey, I picked my hair."

With effort on both sides, they talked each other into better moods, mainly by mutual unspoken agreement not to let anyone's issues back out. What he'd have liked to be able to tell her was that they'd taken about five minutes to add _Todd Tolansky_ to the family, so there was no way she could have trouble. But everything that had happened back home was hidden as carefully as the bandage on his shoulder.

He had to wonder if there was anything she'd have told him if she could.

* * *

In the three days since Todd had dodged questioning by destroying any hope of peace in the Maximoff home, he'd spent the time mainly on feeling lousy. Mainly because he'd upset Wanda, but there were inklings of less self-interested regret that he kept neatly buried. He'd been avoiding everyone on the planet but Freddie, since the big guy didn't have the brains to come up with questions and was happy to watch Mystery Science Theater with him in silence.

But Freddie usually got up before noon, so Todd was snoring alone in their shared room when there was a knock at the door. That in itself was weird. Knocking was a rare courtesy around here. Fortunately, he caught himself before he told Kurt to go ahead and come down. Another reason to keep dreams small was how inconvenient they were upon waking.

After blearily debating for a moment, he settled on, "Yeah?"

The door flew open in a shower of blue sparkles. So maybe he was still dreaming. Why else would Wanda burst into his room?

To thrust a red-wrapped box at him, apparently. She hadn't spoken to him since the... incident, and her voice was particularly clipped now. "I assume that when Pietro got the mail he assumed this was for me without reading the name. Or he'd be dead."

Todd was only half sitting up, trying to convince himself he was awake with more hair in his face than he usually seemed to have on his head and his stained shirt hiked up halfway from tossing and turning. Suddenly mortified, he yanked the hem down and tried to shove his hair back.

"You don't usually look any better. Take. The. Box."

If looking like shit bothered him, he'd have withered away from embarrassment by age six. No, it was the weird vulnerability of the thing that bugged him. "Aw, sweetcheeks," he said distractedly, forgetting to find any kind of statement to follow.

As for the box, it was very neatly wrapped but had been tossed around a bit by the postal system. The little dings and tears in the paper just highlighted how weirdly perfect it looked. The address was handwritten but so neat it could have been professionally printed. His name had been spelled "Tolanski," which struck him as a weird detail to get wrong in the midst of such a festive OCD-stravaganza.

He was confused until he smelled ginger. He was beginning to learn that the scents he'd always found so irritating as they permeated the world around him were actually kind of nice when they came from an actual plant and not a cheap soap or air freshener.

He looked up from his perusal to meet Wanda's gaze. She didn't say anything, but clearly wasn't going anywhere. And hey, he was the first to admit that this was weird as hell. He clearly wasn't getting rid of her, and his only hope was to act like this was normal and hope she'd lose interest. He shrugged and tore into the package, wondering vaguely why anyone would be so careful about something when its entire purpose was to be immediately shredded.

A philosophical debate for another time. The box yielded a spicy-smelling packet of white lumps wrapped in glittery green cellophane, a little tin box of what he assumed was cocoa mix (he didn't recognize it without a foil packet and a girl with braids for a shill), and two lumps of soft blue stuff he couldn't immediately work out a purpose for. A moment's examination resolved the things into the weirdest pair of gloves he'd seen, including the furball's three-fingered oddities.

Being the right size was rare enough in itself, but they were designed precisely for webbed fingers. They looked like mittens from the second knuckle down, but above that, the fingers were free and ended just below the tips, leaving a little dexterity while providing maximum warmth. To top it all off (literally), an extra flap of wool could be pulled back or over the fingers as circumstances demanded, secured by little wooden toggles. The wool was so thick and soft he could lose a fingertip in it and a pleasantly familiar shade of sapphire blue.

Todd remembered with a start that he wasn't alone with what were undeniably Christmas presents. He opened the green package and held up the contents. "Uh, cookie?"

"What?" For once, Wanda looked confused instead of angry. He didn't like it as much.

"They're called fife-a-noose, I think?" He wasn't cut out for German. "Pretty good, but you could break your teeth on 'em."

She took one, looked surprised at herself, and took a bite with a shrug. "Not bad. Now, care to make any confessions before I beat them out of you?"

"Confess? Confess what? A guy can't get mail in peace around here?" Well, actually, that was well established. Pietro was always making off with Freddie's car magazines just to be annoying and when Lance and Kitty weren't on the outs, intercepting cutesy letters on pink stationary was a great game. He'd just never had a chance to be on the receiving end of the harassment. No fun, as it turned out.

"Maybe someone with friends can."

"You got thorns, beautiful." Todd rocked forward, bracing his heels on the frame of the bed so he could stand up and grin at her at eye level. The leering was satisfying for the few seconds it lasted before Wanda whacked him back onto the mattress with a geometry book from the bedside table. It didn't hurt much, since he'd long ago hollowed out the pages to use the thing as a hiding place. If there was one safe place from prying eyes around here, it was a math book.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his forehead mainly to conceal the fact that he was watching in case something fell out when she dropped the book back to its table. His rubber-band based security held up.

"I don't appreciate your assumption that everyone is as stupid as you are," Wanda spat. He looked up to see she was holding up a few strips of the torn wrapping paper. He hadn't even noticed the return address. It was written small and in what looked like ballpoint pen, and while there wasn't even a name, he recognized the street. That was where the Institute was. Damn. "Not that I'd have needed this to work out who might have gotten you out of the Alps and sent you German Christmas cookies."

"What can I say? You're just as brainy as you are beautiful." He sighed. "Gonna tell?"

"I should, shouldn't I? But unlike the rest of you idiots, I don't really enjoy acting like I'm twelve. And as for my father, we're a bit on the _outs_ just now." She growled at nothing in particular, Todd was glad to see. He still didn't _want_ to get mauled. She wouldn't even have to touch him to do it. "But I suppose I do owe you, even if you told me the truth months later than you should have and to save your own slimy skin."

"I did do that, yeah." He didn't think it was _unbridled _hatred she was glaring at him with. Just the regular kind.

"It's more than anyone else bothered with." Wanda closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "But you're going to tell me what happened."

That was fair. Todd didn't have the best brain for detail, but he hurried through the major points with only minor backtracking and a few deliberate omissions, like exploring the castle. He made it sound like he'd just happened to run into Nightcreeper and decided he'd rather get along than stay where he'd been told. Wanda leaned on the door throughout his confused recitation, looking completely impassive.

"Humans," she said when he finished. "Father may be a lying bastard, but he's got their number."

"Hey, some of them are pretty okay." She shot him a venomous glance and he cringed. "Just, y'know, there's a couple. Who send the freaks Christmas presents instead of ditching us."

Wanda let out a short scream of frustration and stomped out into the hall. Todd hopped after. "You wanna come pick pockets with me? Sales make people too crazy to keep hold of their wallets."

She didn't even turn to look at him. "Knock yourself out."

He thought that was a perfectly good date, which was probably why she'd told him to bug off. But at least she wasn't going to rat him out. Todd figured that made the whole conversation something other than a net loss, though far from a win.

Even without the lovely Wanda as accomplice, it had still been a good plan for the day. After-Christmas crowds were the craziest he dared get near. He'd tried to work a Black Friday once and almost been trampled repeatedly.

He dug out pants and shoes and bundled up. Todd stuck his new gloves in the pocket of his coat and wore the ones rendered gray and tattered by castles and wood sheds and mad escapes for the trip over. The snow in Bayville was half slush and almost black from mud and pollution, and he'd want his hands to hop fast enough to get there in time for the end of the lunch rush. Abandoned food court fries were his favorite non-Wagner food.

The crowds also made for a certain amount of protection. Even back in the day, he'd been a prime target for harassment, but now that mutants were just enough of a known quantity to be feared, he wasn't just a weird kid it'd be easy to pick on. He was the antelope that ran all funny, if the lions assumed the antelopes were coming for their babies. He tried to walk normally once he was inside, carrying his coat over one arm and sticking close to walls. The coat made a good cover for grabbing a handful of cold onion rings left by jackasses who couldn't clear their own table.

Ah, blessed be the jackasses.

He was doing a second sweep, more focused on lunch and the hope of a possible half-sandwich but open to any purses he might spot unattended. Grabbing a whole purse was usually more trouble than it was worth, but if the wallet was visible, a quick snatch and walking hurriedly in another direction wasn't that bad an idea. And he had the sense to just take cash and ditch the rest, so it wasn't like anyone could track him down.

He might not be good at a lot of things, but he was awesome at petty larceny.

Todd stopped when he spotted a familiar fashion disaster from the back, sleek dark hair and stupid overshirt ideal for concealing a curled-up tail.

He hadn't actually given any thought to how seeing him again would go. The days in the icehouse felt totally unreal surrounded by crowds and the smell of deep fried everything. But just walking on by seemed wrong. He settled on a quick, casual elbow to the ribs. "Yo."

Kurt was already on edge and worn out. He'd hoped that getting a little time away from having to hold up his end of a conversation would help, but the crowd and the noise was the real problem. He'd been more comfortable with Rogue and his parents nearby, even if that meant a little more stress from interacting.

So being poked by a sharp elbow was even less pleasant than it usually would have been. "Was?" He jumped and spun on his heel as though he were ready to fight, since fleeing wasn't an open avenue. Then he saw who'd jabbed him. And, however strange it seemed, that the toad looked kind of hurt. "Oh, sorry. I'm kind of jumpy lately."

"Guess I don't blame yah, dawg." The shorter boy shrugged. "This was the place you picked to be wired in, though?"

"My mother kidnapped Rogue to shop, and Rogue introduced her to Hot Topic." Kurt shrugged. "I'm caffeinating. This has been going on for hours."

"Scary, yo." Todd nodded deeply. "Where's your dad, then?"

"Cooperating. He's smart like that. I'm supposed to bring him coffee too. You want one?"

"Sure." The Toad looked a little leery, but since he agreed, Kurt figured he'd let that go. "Careful. Lady power is, like, extra unkillable if you get more than one to work together."

"Ja, I'm a little afraid they'll try and turn me goth too if I get too close."

Todd had always been a proponent of the look, on account of it made scary ladies scarier and tended to leave a lot of skin exposed, or at least that was how he worked it out on a conscious level. He was struck at the moment by the appealing contrast unforgiving lines described in black and silver would make with blue fuzz. And that was weird. He'd never had any trouble keeping his attraction to boys (in general or with specific targets) to carefully controlled daydreams before. Could be a problem, though he wasn't totally sure why. It was kind of nice.

"You'd look like an evil Care-bear," he observed with a sneer.

Kurt winged a sugar packet at him and then had to pay attention long enough to order three double-Americanos with room for milk. As they walked to the side to wait, he asked, "So, get your package?"

"Yeah, today. Guess I'll follow you long enough to say thanks." Todd frowned. Rogue being around might be kind of a problem. She was not his biggest fan. In fact, if he had a smallest fan, it might be her. Oh, well, he'd have to think of something sneaky.

"That'd be cool. He always likes good reviews on his patterns."

Todd performed a double-take so elaborate Kurt sort of suspected it was staged. (If anyone else had done it, he'd have been sure. He didn't quite get the Toad.) "Your _dad_ made these?"

"Ridiculously fast, too. I guess he's had lots of practice with weird gloves." Kurt held up a disguised hand in the usual Star Trek salute. "Mama does most of the cooking because it's the closest she can get to mad science, not because she's a lady. They pretty much do their own thing... always."

"Yeah, I... Aw, shit." Incoming.

There was something about each other's company that put each of them too much at ease. They'd stopped thinking forward, and now Todd had spotted not just the beautiful and startling Ma Wagner and husband headed his way, but Rogue. He'd barely started to plan his dodges before _someone_ had distracted him with... a few seconds' worth of enjoyable conversation. He might not be a master strategist, but he usually knew how to keep out of the damn way.

For his part, Kurt was well aware that he was as much Todd's dirty little secret as the Toad was his own, and he didn't want to mix his worlds any more than he hadn't been able to avoid already. He didn't have the other boy's experience at running away, though. He simply wanted the impossible; Todd to be able to talk to his parents without letting Rogue in on things.

"Kurt!"

Salvation came wearing pink and a scarf Kurt was almost sure was best described as super cute. Before he'd even quite figured out what the article of clothing was meant to do, Kitty had leaped on him for a hug.

"Aren't you, like, totally surprised to see me?"

Kurt glanced up for just a second, spotted a sulky looking Lance, and sighed imperceptibly. Thank heaven. "Of course! I thought you were with your parents for the rest of the week."

"Yeah, they had this last minute conference thingy come up. I figured it'd just be me and Rogue hanging out, but the professor said you were back, and whoa, like, are these your parents?"

Todd watched Kurt smoothly turn and perform introductions. He leaned against a partition, trying to look like he'd always been there, and Lance nodded vaguely at him, still looking annoyed. This looked like one of their not-dates again.

He'd never understood Lance's Kitty thing before. The jokes had been easy and kept the heat off him, so he'd jumped in happily and not bothered trying to get it. But there was something special about someone who wasn't broken. Something pretty. Unlike Lance, he knew he didn't get pretty things and was okay with just looking. But he could see cracks forming right in front of him, and he wanted to fix it even if it wouldn't do him any good.

He was still being selfish, or so he told himself. It was looking out for number one to try and fix things so the world he had to live in didn't get too much worse, right?

"What're _you_ doing here?" Lance asked petulantly. He looked like he might want to take out his irritation at Kitty not paying attention to him.

Todd preferred he not, especially just now, but sometimes that was just the ways things went. He took a slow sip from much better coffee than he'd expected to get again. "Crime."

"Cute. I don't want you around Kitty, so go ahead and get lo-"

Neither of them had really been paying much attention to the constant stream of excited pleasantries from Kitty, so her shouted, "Lance!" cut across the conversation unexpectedly.

"Lance, you're being totally rude! Anyway, that's Lance, and, um, his friend, I guess, but they don't go to school with us. School at the institute, not school like regular school, because they go there. And anyway, it's so cool to meet you! Kurt's, like, the big brother I never had, so..."

She went on, but Todd zoned out again. He caught Kurt's dad's eye from across the busy, noisy circle of people and smiled, figuring no one was likely to notice. He got a nod in return and figured he'd done what he'd set out to do. If anyone else asked, he'd say he was behaving himself in front of Kitty so Lance wouldn't drop him off a garage, which had the advantage of being slightly true.

He did see Rogue shooting him a look, but hopefully that was just her generally disapproving of him. Todd deliberately stopped paying attention, trying to ignore a spike of that increasingly familiar, resentment-laced anger. Goddamn... everyone. The groups eventually split apart and he found himself standing alone.

At least Kurt looked back and smiled at him. And very deliberately, Rogue had turned to glare a moment later, but he still had some hope that they weren't busted. Though in the strangest way, he kind of wished they were. It'd suck for a while, but then...

Actually, he had no idea what happened then, or why he might want it to. After a lifetime of being sure not to let feelings catch up with him, Todd couldn't even identify ordinary motivations half the time, let alone work out what they might mean. Scowling at nothing in particular, he finished his drink and went back to working the crowd. It was always good to have something to focus on in the event of bad moods.


	7. Chapter 7

Kurt was equally confused, but there was too much going on to have a second to think about it. He had to talk to his parents about Kitty for a while (with some help from Rogue), carry shopping bags, weigh in on restaurant selection and be repeatedly overruled, and keep up with an endless stream of conversation. He definitely loved everyone here, but he really wanted to go to bed and stay there.

At least they slowed down some when they finally sat down for dinner. Rogue did some more talking, since they'd thought to ask her about Future Plans in that disconcerting way adults did, and then trying to get her to pronounce German words carried them all the way through appetizers.

But of course, nothing gold can stay. His parents had been talking about how crowded the mall was after their years keeping out of the way when his fragile edifice of lies inevitably cracked. "I was most sorry that we lost Todd," his mother said, shaking her head. "I don't like how thin that boy is."

He wasn't sure if it was better or worse when Rogue made it clear she hadn't exactly been fooled. At least she covered for him. "Aw, he's just like Kurt. Fast metabolism."

"That as it may be. I'm still sorry we didn't bring him along." She let the subject go and Kurt jumped in with more conversational energy than he'd mustered all day. He and Rogue walked his parents back to their hotel room for one more night of decent sleep before they headed back to Germany, and Kurt fell quietly into step beside his sister, hoping she'd leave him alone.

Nope. "So y'wanna start talkin', furball?"

"Not really." He wrapped his arms around himself and this time he noticed and tried to straighten back up. "How do you feel about letting me off?"

"Not gonna happen." She bumped him with her shoulder. "I'm new to this big sister thing, remember? So I gotta have all the information before I start teasin'."

Kurt suddenly realized that Todd was a tiny piece of a much bigger secret. He didn't want the word getting out or anything, but he could trust her. She wasn't exactly a blabbermouth. But letting her know he owed his life to the Toad (and didn't really mind) led inexorably to fire and guns and being hunted like an animal. Abandoning the theoretically modest goal of looking normal, he twisted his hands together in an effort to keep them from shaking.

"Kurt?" Her vaguely affectionate taunting turned to concern in a moment.

"It's ok. It's just... How much have you heard about what happened?" Maybe there wasn't much of a rumor mill with everyone else still home for Christmas, but the Institute seemed to bleed everyone's personal business from the walls.

Rogue confirmed his suspicion that something would have been filtered through to her. "That Storm, Wolverine, and Jean went and grabbed you from home because the locals decided the jerks on TV had the right idea. That's all."

"That does cover most of it." He swallowed. "I don't know what's wrong with me, Rogue. We've faced a lot worse than a bunch of idiots with guns. Everyone is okay." He swallowed hard, thinking of the castle he didn't intend to ever discuss with anyone. That weight was a lot, but he still couldn't see any good _reason_ he wanted to curl up in a tiny ball and sob whenever he let his guard down.

She waited a moment, but curiosity won out over not especially developed people skills. "So what does Toad have to do with it?"

"Magneto was up to stuff." The professor was definitely following up on that. Kurt wondered if they'd still have their guest teacher come the end of vacation, but apparently Professor Xavier would forgive that man anything as long as he asked nicely. Kurt tried not to be bitter. "He brought Todd to scout, I guess, and then ditched him. I found him. So, um, screw Magneto."

"Weird. But I guess it's not like he means anybody any harm. Your parents really will adopt anybody, huh?"

"Ja. They'll probably add Kitty now, too." He shrugged. "They always did want more kids."

"You were a big enough handful, though?"

"I made it kind of hard to look into other adoption options." Kurt closed his eyes a moment to avoid the surprised glance he knew she was shooting him. He should know how to keep a lid on outbursts like that. "Uh, I kind of want a walk. Are you okay getting back to the Institute yourself?" It was only a few blocks.

"Sure." She looked worried, but she didn't try to argue. "You, uh, you be careful."

"I will." Curfew was a potential problem, but he didn't think it was being enforced quite as tightly with only three students in residence, all of them old hands by now. More significant was the threat of the local anti-mutant creeps, but that idea was less frightening than being pinned down and made to talk just at the moment. He left Rogue without remembering to say goodbye.

It was a cold, nasty night and he basically had it to himself. Thanks to being under watchful eyes all day he was dressed for it, and the fur always helped. He'd almost have preferred feeling the chill, since it would have taken him out of his own head a little. He had to settle for the tip of his nose and his toes. At least the refrozen slush full of grit made a lot of unpleasant noise when he walked. Crunch. Crunch. The off-putting, forlorn sound and the mess of the urban snowscape suited his mood, and he wore a bit of a grim smile as he stamped his way along.

Unconsciously, Kurt stuck to shadowy spots on the street, seeking cover from what never settled into being more than a very vague sense of threat. He wasn't blue at the moment, but he was still a night creature and his dark winter clothes almost made up the difference. He went practically disappeared, despite his deliberately noisy footsteps, with plenty of cars shooting by and a growling wail in the wind to cover that up.

The wind was almost enough to dissuade Todd from stealing hubcaps. The payoff was unpredictable and most of the time he just passed them on to the garage guys for the price of a crappy dinner. Definitely not worth getting frozen. But his cold-tolerance was way up lately and it wasn't like he was in it for the payoff. He was just feeling destructive.

The problem with this racket was that only extraordinary douchebags had fancy caps. Biggest payoff, biggest risk was a perfectly good rule, but it wasn't one he'd made his peace with. He usually just left the custom bullshit alone, but this particular set he recognized as belonging to one or another of Bayville's finest pigskin chuckers. Mildly inconveniencing a mutie-hater was the best outlet he could think of for his mood.

Unfortunately, while Todd had been banking on jockosaurus being engaged in impressing one of the cheerleaders at the pretty okay steakhouse to the left of the parking spot, he emerged instead from the convenience store further down with two big, ugly friends in tow right as Todd was popping off the first hubcap.

It wasn't hero time (when was it ever, barring that single aberration). They'd have gone off on him gladly enough back in the day, before they'd had a convenient name for all the reasons it was cool to use him as a punching bag. Todd dropped everything and hopped like mad.

Fancy gym shoes beat scrambling around on all fours on ice, though, and Todd skidded and landed hard enough to knock the wind out of him before he was even close to the alley where he'd thought he might make his escape.

"Oh, look, Toady Tolansky." Todd didn't know this one's name, but he was one of the younger ones. Oh, good, a wannabe-alpha with something to prove. "Y'know, usually we're careful after what happened to Matthews, but not even the other freaks are gonna turn up to bail _you_ out."

Very true. Todd tried to make a dash for the darkness again, but was lucky enough to see a booted foot before it connected. He was very good at taking a beating with minimal damage. Hurling himself as best he could to the side, he took most of the force as momentum, not bothering to try and dodge the kick. Letting them think they were doing a lot of damage and getting it over with was the important thing.

Though he had landed pretty close to the alley. He knew the side street as well as he did any bolt-hole in town. This one was bounded on one side by vinyl siding, which even he couldn't count on climbing, and ran into a chain-link fence. He tried to remember if there was barbed wire involved, but even if there was, he might be able to get over it if the other wall was brick.

While he mulled his options over, he had to compensate for a couple really distracting boots to the ribs, but he was pretty sure he had a plan worked out. There was even a spot with more salt than ice. He aimed for that with both feet and managed to get up without skidding. Not that it did a lot of good. The beefy hand shooting after him was going to catch his coat. But somehow he felt better for trying.

But just when he expected to be snatched back like a stubbornly escaping football, the front of his coat was grabbed instead, hauling him into the dim alley and swinging him to the side. Time slowed down as he watched a skinny fist shoot out and straight into Letter Jacket's stupid face. Definitely a broken nose. He was an expert on broken noses.

And then, with a swooping sensation he'd pretty much learned to handle, he was three feet above the roof of the bank. The landing was only a little unpleasant, cushioned by unshoveled snow that hadn't even gone nastily gray up here.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem. Ooooow."

Todd sat up and watched Kurt shake his hand out with a wince. "You, uh, break your hand face-punching a dude?" Because that was... That was absolutely hot, actually.

"Nein, can't possibly be that bad. Feels like hell, though. Scheisse." He flexed his weird, fake inducer-hand a few times and sighed. "I guess there's a reason I don't do that."

"Just freakin' haul off on a guy?" Todd was strangely annoyed. "That was the greatest sucker punch I've ever seen."

"Ja, well, I still don't think I'll make a habit of it." Kurt stood up, still twitching the hand as though that was going to help, and walked to the edge of the roof. They were three and a half stories up and the roof was both flat and bounded by an ornate little wall. Bad decision for dealing with New England snow, but handy if you needed to hide out a while. "You okay? I, um, had a little trouble getting over there in time."

Todd remembered their flailing drop onto the roof versus the precise jumps he'd seen the Crawler pull off in the middle of fights. With effort, he didn't say anything about how of course the reliable powers went away as soon as someone turned out to be on his side. Because how weird was that, someone on his side? "How long you figure they'll look for us?"

Kurt leaned against the barrier, resting his chin on a stone flower. The three jocks were in close conference rather than yelling, which he didn't like. Yelling might bring the police or at least get the attention of some saner adults. He swallowed a nasty shiver, unaware his tail was lashing behind him with agitation the rest of him kept neatly suppressed.

Todd found it kind of hypnotic.

"I'm going to go ahead and say we should hang out up here a while. My, um, issues seem to get worse over distance. If we tried to port, I might drop you off at home or twenty feet above it." Kurt reached down and switched off his inducer. He didn't remember making any such decision, but what the hell. "Their stupid friends only got a slap on the wrist for what they tried to do to the Morlocks and Dorian. I don't think they'll worry too much about consequences, and I don't want to have to call the Professor to save us again."

It seemed to Todd that that was what you'd keep an overreaching spooky telepath around for, but he wasn't in any hurry. He got up and walked over to join Kurt. "Tried to do what to who?"

Did the Brotherhood not know about them? Or maybe just Todd. He did seem to Kurt like he might miss things. "There's a group of us living underground. Us meaning total freaks. The can't go out in public kind." To... some extent. He wasn't totally clear on why Callisto was with the others, but she terrified him a little and he hadn't asked.

And no one had thought to tell him about this? Todd identified the spiteful, hollow feeling in his gut only because it had already hit once today, when he'd been summarily ditched at the mall. "Huh."

"They don't think much of me," Kurt admitted, turning around to sit in the snow. The wind packed it against the concrete wall thickly enough to feel like a really cold sofa. "We bring them supplies every week and Evan lives with them now. I wish I had half his guts."

Todd was still hung up on the fact that no one had let him know, but the initial upwelling of anger had faded down the the usual quiet resignation. He dug into his pockets and wrested out a battered half pack of cigarettes lifted from Lance's coat. "S'a fair call. I'd probably of picked normal if I'd had it in me to stick it out over at Suckup Manor."

Kurt decided not to point out that Todd could simply stand up straight, keep his tongue put away, and not attract too much attention. That wasn't fair. It might be easier or harder, but in the end they were all at risk. There was no safe point where you looked human enough once your mutation went down that road.

He felt so guilty over the mean little thought that he didn't complain about the smoke. Directly. "That's a great idea when we're supposed to be hiding out."

"If you think the Bayville Steroids have the brains to pick out a cig on a roof an' figure out it's us, I got a bridge in Brooklyn t'sell you. Lightly used."

Kurt found that the dusty, acrid smoke was bringing things to the surface he couldn't handle. He fished the used match out of the snow and held it under his nose. Todd must have stolen it from somewhere fancy, because it smelled like pine and sulfur. Comforting.

He seemed to have run out of things to say, but it didn't matter. This silence didn't have the weight and discomfort of quiet around his assorted loved ones. Todd knew everything he was hiding and probably didn't want to ever acknowledge it either. No stress. He almost dozed off while the cigarette burned down, head leaned against the snowy concrete barrier.

Todd watched him practically melt into a lazy sprawl and rolled his eyes. It was like having a cat, if a cat would punch a guy in the face for you, tell you there was a secret society of freaks like you hiding out in the sewers, and bitch about a damn cigarette once a month or so. He let Kurt be, stealing the occasional glance back at his companion but mostly keeping an eye on the jerks. Eventually they sped off. He was really amused to note they'd forgotten to reattach the hubcap, even if that would probably just make them madder next time.

"C'mon, furball." He poked Kurt's boot with his own. "They fucked off."

"Cool. Fire escape's over here, right?" He stretched a little, beginning to feel the cold now as he stood back up and took the full force of the wind again. "Yuck."

"I'm gettin' so I kinda like it," Todd said, ignoring the rickety stairs for the convenient vertical surface all around them. He wondered a little whether he'd be good at robbing a bank as he crawled down this one, but that was a question for when he had a little less snow caked in his hair. He hit the ground a moment before Kurt, who'd gone down the side of the fire escape like it was a jungle gym. It was pretty cool having someone around who could keep up.

"I'm going your way. Mind if I walk with you?" Kurt watched Todd try and puzzle that out, since the boarding house and the institute were a good distance apart. He didn't really feel like explaining, and his companion was apparently alright with that. Todd shrugged and Kurt ducked deeper into the alleyway, coming out through a two-foot-wide gap between a record store and a hot dog joint.

The walk was mostly quiet. Todd knew most of Kurt's shortcuts and had a few new ones to show, and they made good time despite having to clamber over the snow. Kurt was glad to be free of small talk as well as the weight of secrets, and it was only with reluctance that he turned a corner not far from the Brotherhood place. "My stop."

Todd looked down the street. Nothing there but some old houses and a little church. "There?"

Kurt nodded. It was one of only two Catholic churches in Bayville. One had mostly middle-class attendees, looked like a gilded airport inside, and was crawling with opinions about mutants that would have sat very well with their friends on the football team. This one was an old house made over on a shoestring budget, full of icons and candles, and most of its attendees had far more pressing matters to worry over than whether mutants had souls.

They could have asked. The answer was yes.

He'd taken a few steps down the quiet street when he realized Todd was still with him. "So, uh, you and this God guy, huh?"

He hoped this wouldn't get ugly. "I promise I will never, ever try to bribe you into a church with a spaghetti dinner served with creepy comic books."

"Hey, don't knock those." Todd had eaten a lot of meals at youth outreach centers and missions over the years. He'd even watched the video or paged through the pamphlets sometimes. As a rule, the overly enthusiastic youth group leaders hadn't been resilient enough to pick him to evangelize to, so it had all been left to roll around in his head. He'd definitely come to conclusions, just not the ones they wanted. "Don't matter what free stuff you have if the real product's crap, though."

Kurt wasn't sure if Todd was trying to annoy him. He didn't actually mind that particular point whether it was meant to be barbed or not. As a rule, he liked not having to discuss the alternately awkward or embarrassing issue of what he believed and how much that meant to him. "The free food's at the Lutherans' tonight. This one has every other Thursday."

"Trust me, I know. I'm followin' you, not the cold mulligatawny and Wonder Bread." Todd was a little surprised at himself, being so open, but it only felt a little bit nuts. "How's the whole thing work? For you, not some smiley weirdo in khakis or an old dude in a dress."

Kurt took the last few steps in silence. It was late and the church wasn't actually open. He'd come for the shrine, a little Marian grotto half as tall as he was and made of crumbly yellow brick. The statue wasn't very good, probably the work of a local volunteer, and he had a certain affection for the lopsided face.

He turned around to check whether Todd was still there. He was, leaning on the little fence that surrounded the shrine, face unreadable. He was at least sincere enough to stick around, so Kurt wanted to try.

How was he supposed to explain something that had always been true, that he understood the way he did air and gravity? "You know when you've landed wrong, you're about to his the ground and hopefully not break anything, and then at the last second you twist your back the weirdest way you can and stay up after all?"

"Yup."

"That's the hand of God. That something that's on your side when you need it most. You can have stories about footprints in the sand and nice ladies who stand on snakes." He gestured to the statue beside him, which did indeed follow the old-fashioned, seldom-examined tradition of having Mary stomping on a serpent. He'd always felt bad for the poor metaphorical snake. "I don't know how I feel about all of it. The people in charge are... Well, they're people, and sometimes they're awful. And the rules and the rituals can be stupid." He tugged a flimsy wooden rosary out from under his shirt. You weren't supposed to wear them as necklaces, but he found it a comfort. And rules were for people without fuzz. "But sometimes when I'm lighting candles and saying each prayer ten times and each ten five times and each five another five, I'm not alone for a moment." He breathed in deeply and flopped onto his back in the snow, smiling gently with his eyes closed. "What else could I ask for?"

Todd wasn't exactly sold. There was nothing all that unique in Kurt's spiel, not after a hundred missions and outreaches. But at least there was one epiphany on the table tonight. He was definitely sure now that he wanted—really wanted—to go ahead and snog Kurt Wagner senseless right there in the snow.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day was even colder, locking down the Brotherhood along with everyone else. Todd stayed in bed until three, doing a lot of staring at the ceiling to the accompaniment of a nondescript buzz of bad temper downstairs. He had stuff to think about, and sustained thinking wasn't a skill he'd really bothered to develop. He wasn't sure how much of his irritable headache was thanks to the attempt to mull things over and how much was what he was puzzling about.

Eventually, he really couldn't settle on an approach that made sense. There wasn't anything he could do that could possibly make his approach smooth and he was pretty sure the response was going to be purely hostile. The only way to deal would be to jump in feet first and roll with the punches until he was either (very unlikely) accepted or tossed out on his ass.

At least it didn't take too long to find a way into the sewer. The manholes were pretty much all iced over, but Todd was good at finding strange corners and unexpected gaps, and it turned out no one watched the water treatment plant that closely when it was well below freezing. Doors were a lot easier than huge metal disks, even if he did have to kick in the last one. He'd worn out his lockpicking credit card by then.

He didn't expect to find a secret mutant society in the maintenance tunnels right under the plant, but he did wonder sulkily how long this was likely to take. It was almost as cold as up on the surface with the added bonus of smelling godawful even by the Toad's standards. He decided to only take right turns so he wouldn't get too lost, but there were a lot of little side tunnels to confuse matters.

It'd really suck if he survived all that crap just to wind up drowned and frozen in the sewer.

An hour and some into his expedition, as he was debating trying to find his way back, the back of his neck prickled like he was being watched. He had to remind himself that being found was what he'd been hoping for and that running would be absolutely stupid. He shook a lifetime's experience with effort and turned around slowly with his hands held in front of him. He wanted it to be clear what he was, but the tongue seemed a little aggressive.

He'd had a couple theories as to what he ought to expect, but a little girl wasn't one of them. At least there was no question whether she was what he was looking for. Even before he saw her hands, he couldn't think of another reason a kid would be here.

Todd actually liked kids, in theory. He'd hardly been around them since he was one, and they kind of alarmed him in large groups, but this little cutie-pie could hardly not remind him of himself. "Hey there. I'm, uh, lookin' for some people down here. People like us?" He held up his hands again, wishing he hadn't forgotten the word Kurt had used. Everybody had a team name.

She nodded, not smiling, and turned down a small passageway he had passed by for looking too likely to get him lost. He wasn't sure he was supposed to follow until she turned around to look back at him. He hurried to catch up, forced to walk instead of hop by the narrow ledge above the nasty water flowing sluggishly beneath.

It wasn't comfortable. He tried to chat to distract himself, hoping maybe he could figure out how to endear himself to a six-year-old. "So, uh, you got a name? I'm Todd. Or Toad. Whichever." No answer. "You guys go in for the nicknames down here, too?"

"Not everyone here has any other name," said a sharp woman's voice. Its owner emerged a moment later, all kinds of beautiful and terrifying. He bit his tongue so as to not attempt to hit on her. "If someone held onto you long enough to make sure you did, you're luckier than some of us."

When the woman approached he noted that she was also really tall. He appreciated that. "You can use any name you like with us."

He didn't have to think about it. "Todd Tolansky." He extended a hand and, perhaps for the first time in his life, she accepted the greeting without hesitation. She didn't even react to the way her thumb ran into his webbing.

"Callisto." She looked at him critically, and while it wasn't the same sort of once-over he usually got, it was just as disconcerting. That and she had to turn her head the weirdest way. He wondered what had happened to her eye, but didn't have anything like the balls to ask. "I've seen you before."

"Yeah, uh, been in Bayville a while, but no one filled me in on the secret mutants downstairs."

"You'd pass, I suppose."

Todd wasn't sure how to take that, since she looked pretty normal except for being awesome. Once again, he kept the opinion to himself. "Well, before we all wound up on the news, I just got picked on for all the regular reasons. It's gotten rougher since."

"I'd imagine. We're generally safe down here, though I'm never sure how long it'll last, and everyone does their part. We do get some outside help from the Xavier Institute, but there are always errands to be run aboveground, and they're reliably dangerous. What do you do?"

"Buncha stuff." Her ruthless, militarized efficiency made him want to slouch more, but he resisted the urge. "I climb walls, spit goo, kick mean, and..." His tongue was hard to explain, so he just snapped it out as far as it'd go and back. It was weird to do that without a target, but even Todd was leery about licking anything down here.

He was pleased to see the little girl smile at last.

"Better defensive capabilities than some of us have." Callisto sighed. "I don't want this place to have to be a fortress, but that's the way things are."

"I getcha." They rounded a corner into a tunnel with no little river of sewage running through it. "I'm, uh, not sure I'd wanna be down here full-time. Still got people I might wanna see..."

"It's not a prison. Though if you're planning on coming and going a lot, I'll want to see you demonstrate your readiness for a fight and there are protocols so you don't risk attracting attention at the rest of us."

"That's fair." Turned out there might be a place for the Toad after all, but it still had terrifying women who'd find reasons to hurt him. He was okay with that. "Who's she?"

Callisto looked like she was having a little trouble keeping up with him, which was fair. He reciprocated. "Torpid," she said with more gentleness than he'd have expected from her. The child skipped a few steps to join them and grinned shyly up at Todd.

He had a feeling she wasn't used to much positive attention, especially when she linked hands with him like it was the best treat she'd had in a while. They were bigger than his were and the gloves were very bulky, but the gesture was so sweet he barely noticed how strange it felt.

Callisto's mouth twitched in a way he thought might be related to these things humans call smiles. "You're what, fifteen?" He didn't bother correcting her. "Do we have to worry about family coming for you?"

As if. "Izzat a problem you usually have?"

"Sometimes. There are kids who run when they start to manifest and whose parents don't know how extreme it is, people who can't let go of their victims... Even a few well-meaning adults who really do mean to offer home back. It happens."

"Yeah, it does," he agreed, absently swinging Torpid over a big gap in the floor. She seemed to enjoy it. Around another bend they inched through a makeshift passageway and stepped from the little tunnels into what looked like a half-constructed subway station. Cool. It wasn't lit very well, though.

"We're a little low on fuel for the generator," Callisto told him, striding into the center of the room. "Facade and Cybelle went after some more, but gasoline is one of the trickier things to put our hands on when no one's brought in cash for a while."

He didn't know how a suggestion about lifting wallets would go. People could be weird about some kinds of stealing versus others. But that wasn't his only idea. "Bet you could tap the electricity from the maintenance tunnels," Todd suggested. "Couldn't go too hard on it or the city might notice, but it'd keep the lights on."

"Two minutes into the tour and you're suggesting improvements? I like you."

That wasn't Todd's only idea, but it was the best. He knew a lot about living on the sly and off the grid, and while they had a good setup down here, a fresh pair of eyes was always a good thing. Once they'd finished the quick introduction, Callisto left him in Torpid's care to go handle whatever the boss lady did in the underground hideout.

Hanging out with a kid who didn't seem to ever talk (though she made other noises like a normal child, so who knew what that was about?) seemed like a tall order, but apparently everyone else was out. Todd sat on an overturned milk crate, occasionally holding a tragically battered doll or two on her mimed instructions. He didn't think he was being a very good babysitter or personal assistant or whatever he was supposed to be, but she looked happy. He should have found the whole thing rather grim, and he _was_ royally pissed at whoever had left this little girl alone for her not particularly crazy mutation. But there was something comfortable in the little alcove of curtains and sheet rock that defined the difference between the kid's room and the rest of the abandoned subway tunnel around them. It was a bit like being with the Wagner's, but he'd lost the sense that this was all a dream that would end the second he set foot outside.

But eventually his watch told him it was pretty late. He hadn't decided to give up his life, after all, just move a little bit of it somewhere safe for a change. There was a good chance no one would notice him being gone, but he was in a damn good mood and inclined not to think badly of even Pietro. He outright missed Dukes and Lance and, of course, he ought to be dancing attendance on Wanda. Life went on.

"You prolly oughta go to bed, huh, kiddo?" He ruffled Torpid's hair and she smiled at him. "I'll try and bring batteries when I come back so the mermaid can sing, okay?" Batteries were entry-level shoplifting.

He heard voices in the main room and figured he should go and see who was new since he'd gone to hang with Tiny back there. He didn't like new people (or old people, or really any people at all), but it wasn't as daunting a prospect as usual. Everyone else in the room was a catastrophe in semi-human form, too.

"There you are," said Callisto's voice. It was still pretty dark in here, so she was just one silhouette among many. The shapes that didn't sound like the cool lady he'd met already were all at least a little odd. He'd never felt so at home. "This is our newest, Todd."

"Hey," he said, relishing the difference between this moment and being introduced to a classroom full of little hellions every time he got a new foster home.

"Toad?" One of the nondescript shapes at the table stood up and quickly resolved into Spyke as Todd had last seen him. There'd been a lot going on with preventing the end of the world and he'd never thought that much about that particular X-geek. He'd missed internalizing that guy had gotten totally, impossibly scary.

"Todd."

"Whatever. What's your angle?" Todd was pretty sure Evan's voice had deepened, which was certainly the only normal change. Still upped the intimidation factor. "Why is Magneto planning on messing with us? This place is _safe_, not a recruiting ground."

All of his good mood was gone, apparently as fragile as it was new. "Todd."

At least that shut him up for a second.

"Todd. Not Toad." He breathed in deeply, fighting to look up at the taller boy instead of cowering like a beaten dog. "I like my name. My mommy gave it to me."

Callisto started to say something, but Spyke turned out to be the kind that got more pissed off when he was confused. "Stop stalling and tell me what your game is!"

"That's the thing. No game, no Toad. There ain't a Brotherhood no more in a way that means anythin'." He was almost standing up straight, though that reliable signifier of confidence for most people just kind of made his back hurt. "Those guys are still my friends, but seriously, fuck Magneto, and like hell is anythin' worth havin' gonna come of the same fights over an' over, right? So forget that. I'm just here because I'm a freak, you're a freak, and we're all freaks, and it's pretty cool to be all freaks at once."

"Well said." Callisto put a hand on Evan's shoulder. "Put the fire out, Spyke. We don't turn anyone away."

"Maybe we should."

Todd decided not to wait around listening to wherever this was going to go. He turned and hopped down the nearest hallway, only realizing once he was away that he had no idea how to get back to the surface. His first thought was that he could ask Torpid to take him, since there was no way she'd say anything nasty, but she should stay in bed. Kids needed sleep to grow. Look at him, after all.

"That was a little messy," Callisto said quietly.

"Sorry." He was, too. He couldn't even join the refugee camp without making everything suck more.

"Spyke was the one out of line."

"Nah. He's got his reasons."

"I don't really care if you like each other, but this place is for any mutant who needs it."

"So y'don't care who started it, but you're gonna finish it?" Todd had always hated that line.

"For all intents and purposes, yes. Let me show you the closest way up to the street." Todd hopped forlornly behind her until they reached a manhole cover outfitted with salt and hidden by a toolshed. Callisto stayed under, but she called up as he climbed (using the ladder because it was a tiny bit convenient). "You never did answer my question. Is anyone going to come looking for you?"

"Nope," Todd said, and moved the cover back into place.


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt's eyes fluttered open about half an hour before his alarm was set to go off. He was tired enough to feel a bit ill, but he couldn't get back to sleep. After ten minutes of staring at the glaring red numbers on the alarm clock, he hauled himself out of bed with a wince. His hand was still stiff from its intimate encounter with some jerk's face and he generally felt like he'd been run over by a truck.

He stumbled downstairs in the dark, stared at the contents of the fridge for a moment before his stomach informed him it wasn't accepting donations, and wound up stretched on the couch until it was time to leave. He'd hoped someone would volunteer to drive so he could talk to his parents on the way to the airport, but no one had and he'd been too much of a wimp to ask.

Kurt was a very meticulous driver, all the more so when he had his parents watching and a grumpy Hedy in an animal carrier. He didn't quite have the attention span to be exhausted, drive through a snowy predawn, _and_ converse pleasantly all at once. Most of what they said flowed over him, only a word here and there solidifying into meaning. Sleepy themselves, they chatted about their plans once they landed, things they'd seen here, how much they approved of the handful of their son's friends they'd met... That much was relaxing.

The airport parking lot was frigid and oddly busy, still handling all the after Christmas traffic. Kurt quietly helped his parents with the bags and the dog, but once they were all out of the car, he froze so abruptly he didn't quite finish closing the door.

He didn't want them to go. He didn't want them to stay, of course, since they had lives to rebuild and, in a way, they were finally free of the burdens he'd placed on them. He wanted to go with them, but he had school to finish and his powers to master, especially now as they misfired like he was twelve years old all over again. He was subdued and miserable and he nearly panicked every time he smelled smoke or a crowd around him got too loud.

"Kurt?"

He spun around and wrapped his arms around his mother, pressing his face into her shoulder. He was too old for this. He was an X-man. He didn't care.

"_Maybe it would help to know that I'm not worried about you at all, Little Mouse?" _She patted his hair like he'd had a nightmare and needed a precise combination of hot chocolate and cuddling to be put back to bed without just waking everyone again. _"__Or only in the usual way. I'm very proud of you, you know, even if you do make ridiculous decisions."_

That just made it worse, actually. _"__Everything that happened is my fault."_

"_Is that what you think?"_ his father asked quietly. _"__You know our stories. You know Father Almeric's."_

He could certainly see the connection between the priest's history and his own general troubles, but he wasn't sure how it was relevant now or what his parents' war stories had to do with it, exactly. _"__I thought you went over the wall because you insisted on thinking too much."_

"_In practice, there's not so much difference between hating someone for being a mutant or Jewish on his father's side or a pesky intellectual,"_ said his mother, squeezing his shoulders. _"__The sin falls on the ones doing the hating and the hunting. Always. It's a badge of honor to stand with their targets."_

It was kind of cool to have heroes for parents. Kurt hugged them both, not entirely reassured but more than he'd have expected to be. If he saw their home in flames every night, at least maybe it would fade from the daylight hours. He said another goodbye to Hedy, admonishing her fiercely to take good care of them, and nodded through lighter admonitions to remember them to his friends, wear a hat on wet days, and not sneak his vegetables into the garbage disposal. He took particular delight in the note to remind Froschschenkel to eat more. Todd was going to love that.

After the shuttle to their terminal picked them up, Kurt sat in the car for a few minutes, curled up and almost crying. But only for a little while. His parents were proud of him. He'd keep it that way, somehow.

The drive back to the institute was nerve-wracking as the first sun of the day melted just enough to make conditions dangerously slippery. He didn't even put on the radio, enjoying a chance to just focus on not crashing or attempting to murder other drivers. He wasn't usually prone to road-rage, but a bit of fuming was a great use of his energy at the moment.

The Institute was buzzing despite the time when he got back. Returning students. By afternoon the place would be as full and crazy as ever. He didn't know exactly how he felt about that, but he did suspect he didn't like the idea, leaving aside details and degrees of intensity. He waited in the garage an extra thirty seconds to avoid getting press-ganged into playing Amara's suitcase hundred yard dash with obstacle course (Tabby's favorite), wishing he trusted himself to port to his room.

Instead he skulked up the stairs guiltily, feeling like a jerk for trying to avoid friends he hadn't seen in weeks. He'd have gone straight to his room, but he heard Kitty and Rogue's voices coming from the TV room and figured saying hi to them would count toward not being an antisocial creep forever.

Kitty clicked off the news as soon as she saw him, but not so quickly that he didn't see fuzzy still photos of a cross burning on a lawn with a serious newscaster-voice declaring that no arrests had been made.

He half resented and half appreciated the assumption that he was made of glass. "Where was it?"

"Mississippi," said Rogue. "Of course it was. The professor's been on the phone for an hour already."

Kurt felt numb as he settled on the arm of the couch. "I'm surprised it was even on the news."

"It's, like, some politician's house," Kitty explained. "You're lucky you missed the jerk they had on before to be fair and balanced. All the 'mutants are gonna eat your babies' you could ever ask for in three minutes."

"And no one got hurt, at least," Rogue said, making a stab at comforting. "I guess we might get a new student."

"That might be kind of scary," Kitty said with a shudder. "I mean, like, a high profile mutant hate case..."

"It'd be great," Kurt said firmly. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, wrapped his arms and his tail around, and altogether arranged himself into a pointy, hostile ball as he glared at the TV. Everything that could possibly be wrong was wrong, in that particular story but really everywhere. "Show them what happens if they think they can intimidate us."

"I like that," Rogue said with an odd expression, and she turned the news back on. Kitty looked like she wanted to leave, but stayed put. Kurt watched, knowing he should be getting angrier. He knew the roiling, messy pit of righteous indignation that would usually have burned in him, and he thought to himself how wrong it was, how awful that someone would pervert the cross that hung around his neck, too. But somehow he just felt numb.

The news moved on to a proposed new library branch, and before any of the tension dissipated, Tabby stuck her head in the room. "Hey, Blue, the lady's on the phone for you."

"Amanda?" Kurt realized he hadn't contacted her at all since the Christmas email, which she didn't even use much and very possibly hadn't noticed. It was always hard for him to initiate contact, since her parents hadn't relented on letting her see him, and that obstacle had cut down their time together to moments at school and maybe one night a month when she was sure she could get away. But when he was back in town before Christmas break was over and when he could have had a chance to introduce her to his parents, he should have been over throwing pebbles at her window the first night he'd been free to do it.

Scheisse.

He scrambled up and dodged out of the room, following Tabby down to the kitchen. He ignored her asking why he didn't poof and her hovering around to listen in on the conversation. It wasn't like either of them anything said anything scandalous.

"Kurt! Hi, I hoped you'd be back. My parents are having dinner at a friend's tonight. They won't be out too late so you can't come over, but would you like to get something to eat?"

"That sounds great," he said, trying not to sound guilty and wondering what he was going to tell her, if anything. "Do you feel like diner food or Chinese?" They'd been nearly caught twice, once by Amanda's mother on her evening power-walk and once by a friend of her parents' who Amanda had been sure would mention the boy she'd been out with. The Golden Wok had a back door into the alley and Mindy's was just dimly lit and out of the way.

The cloak-and-dagger tone was always fun and Amanda was convinced it made them Romeo and Juliet. Kurt wasn't a big Shakespeare fan. He'd tried for her sake, but English took enough of his attention without the higher difficulty rating. He'd introduced her to _Cyrano de Bergerac_, which she didn't think was nearly as romantic. At least it was French.

"I think Chinese. Is five ok?"

"Five is perfect."

He said a slightly confused goodbye and hurried up to his room, ignoring Tabby's automatic attempts to tease him. He muttered something about getting ready, realized he had eight hours before he could possibly leave, and just ported. He landed three feet to the right of his bed, but he thought he might have done that anyway.

Kurt Wagner, the human dirtbag. How could he have just forgotten about Amanda? His picture of the two of them smiled down at him from his desk accusingly. Jerk. Jerk. Jerk.

He couldn't just lie in his room and stare at the ceiling all day. After about a quarter hour he emerged to help with suitcases full of Christmas presents, though he spent lunch being a recluse again, eating his hot dog on the roof. He hadn't even thought about Christmas yet, about the tree and creche and gifts that had all gone up in flames.

As he suspected he'd keep discovering anew every day for a long time, it was the little things that broke his heart.

The afternoon he did spend locked up, claiming to be finishing his over-break reading for English class. He'd done that on the plane home, but no one questioned that simple a banality. Skipping the informal return party was simple, since he just told Kitty he was seeing Amanda. So no crowds for him. Victory.

Or what passed for it. Kurt normally would have taken at least one teleportation shortcut to get across town, especially on a night like this, but he wasn't willing to risk it. He was rubbing his hands together despite the double protection of gloves and fur as he slipped inside to see Amanda waiting with a brilliant smile.

"Guten Nacht," he said, hugging her a little more tightly than usual. He had a lot to make up to her, even if she didn't know it. And he had to remind himself how much he wanted to be here and not in his bedroom, thinking unsettling things. Go out. Have girlfriend. Function.

"You're so cute," she said as the waiter led them to the corner table they preferred, just in case. The fish tank hid them from about half the room. "I practiced my German while you were gone. Want to hear?" She was actually pretty good for a beginner, and coming from a polyglot household Kurt was alright at correcting her without being unpleasant.

But not right now. "Maybe when we don't have so much catching up to do, ja? Tell me how you've been."

Amanda was a pretty quiet person, but only until she knew you. Kurt usually matched her in banter and they shared a love of gossip, but he was pretty sure she could carry on without quite so much input from him as usual. Over complimentary tea and no appetizers (dating was rough on a high school allowance), she told him about Toni and Gynelle's New Years party which led to a hilarious story about Missy which brought about a lot of knowing nodding from them both and oblique references mostly from Amanda as to the bad ends that the girl's taste in romance would bring her to. Boys on the football team dated girls on the chess team only when they were in danger of getting kicked off extracurriculars for their grades.

Kurt didn't mention having punched out the alternate center the other night. That was the kind of omission he was used to making. Just X-men stuff, if on his own time in that particular instance. He'd have to be sure that if he paid for it at school tomorrow, Amanda wasn't around. Maybe let himself get caught after lunch and get it over with. She usually hurried off from lunch to talk to her French teacher.

"You're quiet, Kurt. Are you jet-lagged?" She looked so concerned. He hated the idea of making her more worried. He absolutely never wanted this sweet, normal girl to know anything about what had happened to him.

"Ja, jet..." His insides froze at the weight of the lie he was telling. He'd been less than entirely honest about X-stuff and he sort of lived a lie all the time in some ways, but shutting someone he cared about out of a huge deal was an impulse that scared him. Amanda wasn't made of glass, and he wasn't the arbiter of what she could handle. It was just cowardice, and he hated the idea that he was a coward. "No, I... Sorry..."

"Kurt?" She reached over and took his hand gently. She didn't even react anymore to the fingers she felt when they dared this little intimacy.

"It's, um, hard to talk about." Another little craven act. While he'd told the truth, he wasn't copping to the lie he'd wanted to tell. "There was an attack." Not up to coping with the immediacy of _we were attacked_, he ended up phrasing it like a journalism student. That sounded stupid. "My parents and I, and a friend." Hiding Todd was like hiding his superhero duties. Just came naturally. But he noticed a twinge of guilt, since he was on such a roll feeling like a louse.

"Oh, Jesus, Kurt." Amanda was even more religious than he was (though Orthodox instead of Catholic, something he found equal parts odd and endearing). It took a lot to make her curse and mean it. Usually she giggled nervously after she tried. "Are you okay? Are your parents?"

He meant to say that there was no permanent damage where it mattered, that everybody was mostly in one piece and it'd all be okay. It was what he'd been saying to everyone else. "They burned the house down, I was shot at, I don't know if I'll ever be able to use my powers right again..." He hadn't meant to let any of it out, but she was so sweet she disarmed him as much as she made him want to protect her. It was a matter of chance which impulse won out at any given moment.

"Oh, Kurt." She covered her mouth with her hands, eyes welling up with tears. He was sure he'd hurt her, starting to lie to her, not coming to her about it first. Hiding the truth and then bursting out with it was probably the absolute worst way he could have done this.

"What if something happens to you next time?" he burst out. "What if it hadn't wound up with no one too hurt that time? ...You deserve someone normal."

She swallowed hard and squeezed his hand. "Kurt, do I look normal to you?"

He took a moment to stare at her, taking it all in. Beautiful, funny, charming, brave. Determined since she was twelve to win the Nobel Prize in physics (and he was pretty sure she'd do it, too). Captain of the math team, former captain of the Model U.N. until shyness overpowered her need to be heard, even on the floor of a middle school gym. Already looking into Ivy League schools.

"Nein, mein fraulein. You are _extraordinary_. There's a difference between extraordinary and freak."

"Don't ever think of yourself that way, Kurt."

"Why not? Whatever happens, even in a magical world where everyone thinks mutants are just great, I'll be a blue elf-goblin... thing."

To his surprise, she let out a short little laugh.

"Was?"

"I was just thinking... If I could see them right now, your ears would be down."

Kurt tried not to laugh, thrown for a loop by the mess of emotions. "...I'm not a puppy."

"You kind of are."

Before he could answer back, dinner came, and while they shuffled an order of General Zso's chicken onto two plates beside their eggrolls, the tension dissipated. Kurt still felt several kinds of awful, but Amanda was apparently magical. She found quiet, comfortable things to talk about, didn't ask him questions he could manage (which would be almost any question at all), teased him but only very gently. By the time they headed out of the restaurant, he almost felt human again.

"You are so amazing," he said a little dazedly, as he took her hand. They had usual routes to walk, trailing along side streets until they hit the park. In the winter this was a particularly safe activity. No one else wandered the cold streets with them, and they abandoned some of their usual caution on the way out of the restaurant.

For all Kurt's recent experience with surviving hostile territory, he was only tipped off by Amanda's gasp. His head snapped around—he'd been aiming to whisper in her ear, nothing particular, just something—and he swallowed hard as he saw her mother.

Kurt had been reluctant to try this at all, at the beginning. He was accustomed to bowing to authority, to considering parents the last possible word on delicate subjects. Only the combined promise of Amanda's hand to hold and the romantic idea of it had kept him willing. And now, just as he was starting to feel like the lovely girl at his side was an irreplaceable part of his life, like they really did belong together...

He just closed his eyes and sighed.

"Amanda Sefton!"

"Mom! You were supposed to be... To be at the Golding's..."

Kurt winced. He might be almost as naive and straight-laced as Amanda, but he was pretty sure that the way to get out of being busted wasn't to bring up what you'd thought would let you get away with it.

"We had to end the evening early. Their daughter got sick." While she was turned toward and addressing Amanda, she clearly had all her ire turned toward Kurt, who was even worse equipped to handle it than usual. It was all he could do to stand next to Amanda and not leave her to it alone.

"Mom, I..." For all her delight in playing the star-crossed lovers, Amanda wasn't any better at defying her parents than Kurt would be.

"Car, Amanda."

"Kurt, I'll-"

"Car!"

She hurriedly performed a little mime that Kurt somewhere found the heart to find adorable, twitching her fingers like she was typing. A lot of their contact had been through email since her parents had cut them off. He nodded and turned to go, knowing she wouldn't want him to see her being chewed out.

Kurt ported as soon as he reached an out-of-the-way alcove. He landed on the ground, but way out in the Institute grounds. He took the short way back inside, bounding from tree to tree until his lungs burned with the cold and exercise combined. He made the jump to his own balcony and threw his computer open, cursing at it in a low growl until it finished dithering around with start-up.

Amanda's note was short and hurried. She'd clearly been a bit worried about being caught.

_I haven't wanted to tell you, but mom and dad have been suspicious. I figured we'd just keep getting around them and it wouldn't be a problem, but I think they might have actually set this up. They don't even get why I'm mad at them. Mom's been talking a while about sending me to boarding school like she went to. There's one that's all math and science and I even thought about it before we were going out, but I thought she was just talking. Now she and dad are getting all my transfer papers together. I think they've been ready to do it._

_I'm so sorry. I want to be with you right now, but I don't even know if I'll be at school tomorrow._

_Love, Manda_

Kurt stared at the screen for several long minutes before carefully typing up his response. His typing was always very careful, since the keyboard was built with five fingers in mind, but thinking about tapping each letter made his response a task to be completed rather than a wrenching, grudging, horrible loss.

_I hope you like your new school. You deserve it. Treat it like a chance instead of a punishment and I'll be happy if you are._

_Kurt_

He only noticed he'd forgotten "love" after he'd hit send.


	10. Chapter 10

Todd actually turned up at school the next morning. He'd lost track of whether or not he was supposed to be expelled at the moment, but there was a good chance Principal Loser had as well, and he didn't actually try to go to class. He wasn't even sure what classes he was signed up for, if any.

He was, in fact, at school for the library. He had to sneak past a crowd where he had no allies at all, but he'd always been kind of fond of the place. He usually didn't bother with _books_; he'd mostly lost interest in those after _Goosebumps_ stopped being scary and _Choose Your Own Adventure_ had wracked up too many grisly kills. But the library was big, cool, and echoey, full of abandoned corners and quiet spots with no traffic. Good spots to recharge where he was sure no one would think to look for him, whether he was hiding from Mystique, jocks, X-geeks, or the rest of the Brotherhood.

So he did kind of know where to look. You couldn't use a place as a den for a couple years and not absorb at least a little bit through your pores.

He'd figured that _The Time Machine_ would be a giant book since it was old and everything, but it turned out to be short enough to be an enterprising nerd's research paper. He hopped into the library around nine and was done with it around lunchtime. He was a bit surprised by the way it read. It certainly didn't have much in common with the movie he'd sneaked into early last year, which was the only reason he knew "Morlock" had any previous meaning and which featured them as a sort of sexy alien vampire monster. He'd been pretty down with that, but in the book they were more like evil little monkeys that liked to eat stupid people.

Less flattering.

He came away with a headache and not much information. His guess was that Callisto had mostly picked the name because it sounded cool, but he doubted it'd give anyone the right impression.

Lunch was winding down as he left the library. Crowds were only good cover when you could be anonymous, and he was entirely too well known here. He'd probably have much better luck sneaking back out while classes were on and the halls were empty. He took a well established escape route down the rickety stairs that made weird noises and smelled (anyone hanging out there was likely to have just as much reason as he did to stay out of the way) and into the tiny bathroom that was only ever used by janitors and woodshop classes. Todd had just enough technical knowledge to engage woodshop enthusiasts in conversation, so it was one of the better safehavens Bayville offered.

He balked when he saw that he didn't have it to himself, then relaxed again. "Hey, furball."

Kurt also considered this spot a great hideout, though the other times he'd opted to lay low, it was because his inducer had gone on the fritz. It was functioning fine at the moment, especially considering the rest of him seemed to be feeling the aftershocks of blunt force trauma, but apparently his wrist had made it out intact.

"Hey, Todd," he said distractedly, prodding at the tip of his ear gingerly. With the inducer up, it looked more like he was vaguely pointing at but not touching the side of his head. "You see any swelling?"

"Should I, dawg?" Todd hopped up onto a sink and cocked his head to the side. "Looks like your machine thingy's got it covered."

"Ja, it usually does. I just don't want to hear about it, you know? It's not worth it." He sighed and swung his book bag back on.

"Yeah, someone notices a boy scout like you lookin' beat on and they'll prolly do somethin' about it." Todd shifted, the sink creaked threateningly, and he quickly jumped back to the floor with an indignant squawk.

"Exactly." Kurt didn't especially want to talk about it. He definitely wouldn't have attracted the attention if he hadn't bailed Todd out over the hubcap thing, and that was kind of awkward to think about. "Am I actually going to see you in class today?"

"...We have classes together?"

"Guess not." Kurt smiled crookedly. "So you just showed up for that chalk dust and bologna smell?"

"Nah, it's just closer than the Bayville library. I wanted to check some stuff."

He wouldn't have guessed Todd was much of a reader, but Kurt couldn't think of a way to say that without sounding like a jerk. "What stuff?"

"Uh, hmm." Todd rubbed the back of his neck in a way that looked as positively sheepish as his amphibian looks could manage. "You, uh, mentioned Morlocks. I wanted to see what they were. Like, in the book, not the stupid movie." He leaned back sulkily on the cracked tile wall. "Turns out they're creepy monsters that live underground and eat nice people."

"Well, kind of." Kurt was the son of two writers and the house he'd grown up in was half library. Even in an unfamiliar language, he could do simple lit crit in his sleep. And he'd done that book last year. "It's social commentary. The Morlocks are the way the Victorian upper class viewed its workers, but when the world ends, they're the ones tough and strong enough to survive, while the descendents of the elite waste away to nothing and become food for the people they oppressed. It's kind of a mess, but Wells didn't mean it the way it looks on the surface."

"Oh." Todd looked the way Kurt felt when the Toad burst out with complex tactical directions back in the forest. There was a certain satisfaction in that.

"Well, uh, I'll see you soon." He nodded once more and headed to class, glad he'd helped. Knowing he was probably still a target for the football jerks, he tried to move in big groups. Being short did sort of have advantages. He mostly fit in around shoulder level.

Which worked great for the first minute, before the closeness and the noise made him feel boxed in and panicky. Kurt clasped his binder so hard to his chest that it hurt, eyes down and focusing on just getting in the door of 206. It wasn't exactly a spacious, airy room, but at least he'd have his desk and everyone else would have theirs. One he was there, he told himself, he wouldn't feel faint, numb, and short of breath. He'd shake the tunnel vision and the sense of being hunted.

He wasn't sure how he managed to trip. He wasn't even completely sure that "tripping" was what had happened. His knees might have just stopped working entirely. Either way, he wound up on the floor, and was bumped into twice before he felt that fuzzy, chilly sensation that came of Kitty phasing him through... through the floor, turned out. Huh. Back to the basement.

"Kurt? Wow, you look totally terrible. Do you want me to get the nurse or just go ahead and call the professor?"

Kurt swallowed a few times, trying to bring himself back to earth. "I'm fine. I just was dizzy for a second there."

"Yeah, right, totally." She held out her hands and he braced himself on them to stand up. "I got the story from Rogue, you know. Anyone would be pretty freaked out! There's nothing wrong with a panic attack, but, like, there is if you're gonna be all macho about it."

He tried to smile. The result was rather sickly. "What panic attack?"

"That's it, smart guy. I'm calling the Institute to get Scott to take you home."

"No, really, Kitty." Kurt closed his eyes a moment and straightened up the best he could. "I'm feeling better now, and there's only a few hours left in the day. If I go home, I'll just worry people."

"Did you ever think that might be because you give them something to worry about?" Kitty sighed. "Geeze, Kurt, you're a headache sometimes. Will you promise to go home if that happens again?"

"Ja, I promise." He hoped he wasn't lying. The thought of his parents hearing that he hadn't been able to get through a school day, the questions that Professor Xavier would ask if Kurt gave him an excuse, being asked what was wrong by well-meaning friends who didn't know about home or Amanda... All far worse prospects than walking through the crowded hallway again. Still feeling a bit queasy, he walked back upstairs with Kitty, trying and failing to banter about making sure the principle didn't know they'd been phasing through the floor.

He muttered a non-specific excuse as he hurried into Spanish, only a few minutes late. He didn't pay a lot of attention, but he was there and he turned his homework in. Kurt didn't usually mind just scraping by in classes he didn't care about too much, but now that he had no hope of doing better than the absolute minimum, he found himself guiltily unhappy about it.

By Algebra he was feeling physically better, but the bad mood followed him through Economics and all the way home. He made the homework excuse to go hide in his room until dinner time. He knew it was ridiculous to try to hide from a telepath, and therefore the professor was giving him space and waiting for him to come on his own. He wasn't doing that yet.

He was paging listlessly back and forth through "The Lady of Shalott" and not really absorbing much when Kitty stuck her head through the door.

"Scheisse! Don't do that!"

"Well, we tried knocking and you didn't hear." She stepped through the rest of the way and then opened the door behind her for Rogue. "Also, like, I know what that means and it's totally rude."

Kurt didn't have any trouble looking chagrined. "Es tut mir leid."

"Well, now you're just doing it on purpose." Kitty hugged him playfully, but Kurt could tell she was treading carefully. The way Rogue was hanging back quietly made him suspect at least one or another of the teachers had put them up to talking to him. She didn't like doing what she was told, even if she'd probably have done it anyway.

"Anyways, after dinner we're supposed to take some stuff down to the Morlocks." Kurt was usually on the delivery team. Kitty was not. She wasn't really a fan of sewers. Rogue, sometimes. "Do you want to come?"

He thought about refusing, but he really did like the job, and he _should_ get out of his room at least a little. "Sure, I'm not really making a lot of progress here." He closed up the textbook with a satisfying whump and carried his boots and coat down with the girls.

He tried to talk over dinner, not sure if he was doing it for his own sake or to keep from having to open up about having feelings to any responsible adults. Either way, it was the first chance to see most of the younger students after the break, and knowing everyone kept the crowd and the noise from triggering another panic attack. And while he didn't have his usual appetite back yet, the food was pretty good.

It was a nasty night out, the air full of wet, sticky snowflakes that would have been very picturesque if it weren't for the wind whipping them everywhere at once. Kurt wasn't surprised to see more than the usual crates of cans in the back of the van. The sewers must be pretty unforgiving this time of year. He lifted the last box so the girls and their lack of fur could get inside and then hopped into the front seat.

"How yah doin', elf?" Logan managed to grunt, despite expressing a multi-syllabylic complex thought. You had to wonder how he did that.

At least Kurt felt no shame in answering with, "Okay."

And that was the end of that. He was beginning to feel that Wolverine was his favorite teacher. They pulled up to the unclaimed shed that hid the easiest manhole to sneak big boxes into. Kurt quietly appreciated everyone's careful avoidance of the suggestion that he just go ahead and port everything down. He agreeably clambered halfway down the ladder, holding on with his feet and tail while Rogue stood on the floor of the tunnel. Kitty phased the boxes down and they fumbled each crate to the ground with no significant damage to anyone or anything.

Logan passed down a dolly as Kitty jumped through the ceiling. "I've gotta go put gas in the car and run a couple errands for Charles. Pick you up in an hour or so." He kicked the manhole cover back on.

"At least it's a little less gross here in the winter," Kitty said, turning up the collar on her coat and wrinkling her nose before she took hold of the handle to keep the dolly steady.

Rogue rolled her eyes a little, untangling bungee cords while Kurt stacked boxes. "Make sure the cans are on the bottom."

"Ja." Kurt set the extra box of blankets on top of the stack, decided it was too precarious, and opted to carry it. He switched his inducer off with a little smile. Even with the loss of his home, there were still two places in the world where he could be blue and fuzzy. "Which way do we go, again?" He had no sense of direction down here.

"I checked the map. This way," said Kitty, nodding her head to the left while she helped tie the boxes in. The ride could be kind of bumpy. "So, did you guys see that the signup sheets for the winter formal committee are up?"

"Ooh, wow, I'd just love to do all the work for a dance I'll also hate going to," Rogue sniped.

"Okay, so you're not, like, a joiner. But I was thinking it could be a cool way to get some mutant goodwill going if a couple of us volunteered. How about you, Kurt? I bet you'd be really good at hanging streamers."

"Thanks, but I think I'd rather jump off a bridge," he said as pleasantly as he could manage. It wasn't a terrible idea, but Amanda would be gone by then. He definitely didn't want to think about a dance.

"Come on. It won't be that bad."

"Why don't you ask Amara or Tabby?"

"Maybe Amara. Boom-boom would probably make everything Power Rangers themed or blow up the gym."

Either did seem possible. Before Kurt could voice support for a Power Rangers dance, heavy footsteps down a small corridor caught all their attention. It was hard not to be unnerved by a thudding approach from the darkness even when you knew what was coming, and they all held themselves stiffly until the figure resolved completely into Evan.

"This way. We're trying not to use the subway access tunnels until they finish some repairs." He practically growled the words.

"Whoa, did something happen, Evan?" Kitty set a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"Just more of the usual. That thing with the senator's kid has people riled up again." He sighed and took the box out of Kurt's arms, tossing it up on one shoulder with no visible effort. Kurt would have objected, but his arms were feeling numb. He hadn't quite made a physical recovery from his ordeal, putting aside his powers and general mental health. "No one's been hurt yet, but there was a close call earlier today, and Facade lost all the equipment he'd scrounged getting away."

Kurt swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and nodded. "Is it just the local jerks, or...?"

"They've kind of made Matthews a martyr. You know, for being put on six months' probation." Evan tensed for a moment and the hot end of a spike flared in his arm. Kurt still wasn't used to that and his nerves were fraying fast. He tried to pretend he'd stumbled over some nonspecific impediment on the floor, but he was pretty sure that everyone saw him wince.

"At least we brought extra stuff this time," Rogue said evenly. "And if you need anything special, I'm sure the professor could manage."

"Yeah. But, you know, we shouldn't have to." They rounded a corner and before anyone could agree, the tinny echo of a half dozen cheap little speakers hit them all at once. "And that hasn't helped my mood."

"What is that? An alien invasion?" Kitty covered her ears melodramatically.

"Torpid just got a bunch of old toys working."

"Aw, well, at least it makes her happy?" Though Kitty didn't exactly fall over herself to volunteer to babysit, she did have a soft spot for the poor kid. Most of them did. Kurt found her a little spooky, but his experiences with small children other than himself was largely negative.

"It turns out she loves making an unholy racket as long as she doesn't have to use her own voice to do it," said Callisto as she emerged from some shadow or other. She had that habit. "It's kind of soothing once you get used to it."

"Sure, it's really zen after hour three." Evan rubbed at his forehead with his palm, a rather awkward operation with boney armor in the way. "Oh, I should warn you guys-"

The warning became unnecessary as Todd Tolansky rocketed around a corner with Torpid in hot pursuit. She tackled him and he obligingly collapsed (she weighed just enough to knock him down with effort, so a pre-planned prat fall was best for them both) so she could land on his back and fire her light-up ray gun thingy twice into the air. Despite his best efforts the speaker was almost worn out, and the sound was less like sci-fi lasers and more like a Furby.

Todd had pretty much landed face down and didn't notice much about his surroundings until he felt Callisto lift the kid off his back. "You know, sooner or later the gloves will slip."

"Happened earlier. I didn't die." Unpleasant, sure, but she'd only tapped him and he hadn't had far to fall at the time. Now he knew what to expect. Todd hopped to his customary crouch, checking for damage. Just in case. He was really good at falling, but sometimes you couldn't avoid an imperfect impact.

Only then did he look up and realize there were four X-geeks assembled, rather than just the one he'd already been trying to avoid. At least one of them was Kurt.

He was pretty sure that was a good thing, anyway. He was faintly aware that not all of his sudden shrinking trepidation was because of Spike looking for an excuse to toss him under a subway train. He hadn't been that rattled running into Blue earlier, but they'd been alone at the time. He knew how to do that. It wasn't like figuring stuff out actually changed the way they shot the shit.

But other people? That complicated things. With Wanda he was aggressively open, to her and everyone else. But that was his regular kind of crush. It lacked for confounding factors like Kurt being a guy and from the right side of the tracks, actually being nice to him, and, worst of all, that awful niggling touch of _hope_ that made it all a lot worse. He was capable of imagining what might happen if Kurt Wagner liked him back, and that was hard to stand.

And what if people could tell? He didn't know if he could hide this stuff. He'd never bothered. He didn't worry about Kurt noticing. Guy was kinda thick. But Rogue and Kitty struck him as canny, with mysterious girl powers on top.

Too awful to contemplate. He decided he'd play it cool and deny if he had to,because what the hell other options did he have? "'Sup?"

"Looks like you've all met," Callisto said dryly. "Good, that should be enough hands to get all of this put away. Spyke, you know the way." She left them alone and a few beats went by silently.

"I know how much is in here, Tolansky," Evan growled as Todd moved to follow them.

"Enough to fill the boxes, maybe?" He wasn't in the mood to be deferential, since the boss lady had put him on the job.

"And where you're setting up your room."

"Ain't a secret, yo." Todd decided to stand up, though a day spent mostly on rebuilding tiny toy mechanics had left his shoulders even more reluctant to stretch out than usual. "Name one way I've fucked up so far."

"You've only been around a day. I can wait."

Kurt didn't remember deciding to step between them. He was not formidable in a fight-his light bones and size made sure of that—but he could _look_ dangerous if he wanted to. Even glowering _up_ at Evan. "Nein," he said simply.

Behind him, Todd took a single breath a little sharper and faster than usual. If this were Wanda he'd be theatrically melting. Yup. Problem.

It was only a moment, though. Kurt's uncharacteristically menacing grin became his usual bright smile, down a few watts if you paid close attention. "We have all this to put away, right? Come on."

Evan looked confused, Rogue entertained, and Kitty impressed. Kurt took the dolly and let Evan lead the way. It was only down one corridor and into a storage room with a few rusty lengths of replacement pipe left on the shelves. The other racks were a bit sparely decked with assorted cans and plastic cases full of rice. Kitty immediately reached through the side of the bottom crate to pull out a few cans. The ice broke and all five of them busied themselves with unpacking food, blankets, and kerosene.

The cans mostly held vegetables and beans, which could be cooked with rice into bland but complete meals over hot plates. When Kurt had started out on this detail they'd tried to bring along treat of sorts, but junk food made up most of the Morlocks' diet. Expired twinkies and big orders of fast food were the usual fare, with actual nutritious slop the rarity. The kerosene fed the little camping stoves and the heaters. Blankets were the extra this time, but they'd previously covered winter clothes, medical supplies, spare parts and the occasional replacement bit of portable technology, flashlights and batteries...

And for all their effort thing never seemed any less ugly down here. Kurt found it a little disheartening, but at least he could put a little more food on the shelves and he was better at balancing between a corner and a stack of rusty paint cans to check all the rice bins. He only found one corner nibbled on, and not chewed all the way through yet. The rodents down here were a bit scary.

He was taping the corner up with extreme care, not really wanting to jump back down into the awkward silence two feet below him, when Callisto burst into the room. "Scaleface and Lucid should have been back an hour ago."


	11. Chapter 11

Evan looked far more collected as he turned toward her than he had trying to deal with a slight challenge to his accustomed high school hierarchy. "Were they going to take their usual route?"

"No, they were going to detour and see what they could find off Todd's list."

Todd swallowed hard as everyone turned to look at him. Aside from Evan, they didn't look accusing. In fact, from all the ladies it seemed just absentminded and Kurt was clearly curious. But he'd still have liked the ground to open underneath him.

When he'd turned up this afternoon, it had been with some simple tools and a short cable he'd managed to lift from one of the stores he'd hit for Torpid's batteries. Just to get started on his power taps. Callisto had insisted he write down things that would be useful, but he'd figured she'd just meant for people to keep an eye out in the normal course.

"Should of just let me get everything," he said quietly.

"If I waited for a hundred pound teenager who hops everywhere to shoplift heavy duty resistors and cable, we might have our electricity upgrade by next Christmas," Callisto said acidly. "Caliban says they're in the junkyard. I don't think the chances are good that they just got wrapped up in the scavenger hunt with this much ice around."

"I'll find them," Evan said firmly, passing the box of blankets to Kitty.

"I'll come." Now the stares were all very pointed. Todd swallowed. "Least I can do, right?" Absolute least. But at least he knew he could kick a dude with a gun right in the stupid face pretty good, if he got it just right. More likely he'd just tag along and get in the way. But he didn't think Callisto was into cowardice all that much, and this was kind of his fault. If you looked at it sideways and squinted, anyway, and that was how Todd looked at most things.

"Hey, we'll all come," said Rogue firmly. "Me and Kitty won't have to sneak, and there's safety in numbers. Kurt, turn that thing back on."

Kurt obediently switched back to normal once he'd jumped down. He saw the necessity, though he still felt like a jerk doing it around the Morlocks. And Todd, kind of, though apparently those were no longer mutually exclusive categories.

"Could you, like, tell Mr. Logan where we went?" Kitty asked Callisto cheerfully. "It's the kind of thing he doesn't really mind too much."

"We gotta get that man to answer his phone," Rogue observed quietly enough not to warrant a response.

"I can manage that," Callisto said. Kurt thought she might have looked pleased, but it was really hard to tell.

Though she definitely looked confused to find herself holding the box of blankets as they all spilled out into the hall. Evan led the way, not offering any argument but exuding a certain disapproval. That might have just been about Toad being along or all of them intruding on his hero territory. It was hard to say.

"We can walk most of the way underground," he said as they hurried along, first passing the space the Morlocks had made more-or-less habitable, then into rougher, darker tunnels. "I don't know that part of town very well, but there's probably a fence to get through."

"Lucky we got these two, then," Rogue said, jabbing a thumb toward Kitty and her little brother.

"We have Kitty," Kurt corrected, eyes on the ground. "I... I don't know, I pulled a muscle, or whatever I use for teleporting, while I was jumping all over the Bavarian backwoods. I'm not always off by a lot, but I don't want to try it unless I really have to."

"Aw," Kitty said with a sigh. "Alright. We'll figure it out when we get there."

"Wait, _what_ happened, Kurt?" Evan looked mildly concerned, but mostly curious. Kurt barely had time to tense before Todd spoke up.

"There's more'n one fence, actually," he said quickly. "Kind of a low one around the office and the garage, only about person-tall, and a big one all the way around with barbed wire up top. And some dividers inside, though those can be handy. Keeps any one dog from keepin' after you."

"Um, why do you know this?" Evan was distracted, at least.

"Spare parts an' scrappers. Which they wanna sell themselves, so I'm the reason they gotta have dogs." Hedy had softened his aversion to the creatures as a whole, but he still didn't like that part.

"Really classy," Rogue said lightly. "Anyway, since we don't know where in there they are, why don't we all just hurry up and, y'know, get there?"

"Right." Evan led them around another corner. "Lucid's powers aren't any good in a fight. Scaleface can be incredibly nasty if she shapeshifts, but she doesn't do it in front of humans unless there's a serious emergency. Neither of them _likes_ fighting. So if they're in a bad situation, it'll be all on us."

"I think we'd better do all we can not to fight ourselves," Kurt said firmly. He expected the disgusted look from Evan, but it was still an effort to ignore it. "With the kid on the news right now, the mutie-haters are going to be on high alert, ja? If we hurt someone or even give them a good scare, it will just be fuel for that fire." He regretted the phrase immediately. Usually he was proud of himself for successful use of English idiom, but not when the result was so very literal.

"That's probably why they're in trouble _now_," Evan growled.

"Yeah, Kurt, if you think we'll make it any better by pussy-footing around a fight, you're dreamin'," Rogue added.

"No way! Kurt's totally right. And what would the Professor want us to do, anyway?" Kitty certainly thought she'd made a winning argument, but Evan and Rogue weren't good targets for the Charles Xavier Is Always Right school of thought.

Todd realized uncomfortably that the deciding vote, so to speak, came down to him. He tried to end Kurt his best _fool, I kicked a dude in the face while he was pointing a gun at you, don't you know what I think?_ face, but he didn't think the message got through. "Or maybe we try an' do it with minimal violence so, y'know, we all stand less chance gettin' hurt?"

If there was a coward's way out, Todd Tolansky would find it. "An', y'know, no crossfire to catch Lucid an' Scaleface in," he added. He sounded less like he was trying to wheedle out of the conversation that way.

"Through here. Low ceiling," Evan said, more sharply than the statement really called for. Sounded like he wanted everyone to shut up, and Todd, for one, was happy to comply. Aside from directions and complaints, they didn't talk much for the rest of the hurried, scrambling trip.

The network underground was a damp, bone-chilling cold. It came on slow. Above ground again, the wind bit and rushed under scarves and into hoods, dragging wet snow everywhere. Todd shivered, but he hopped forward, leading the way. He told himself it was just to keep the others from blundering forward and getting them all spotted, but there was a tiny, struggling, infant idea in the back of his head. If he was the one who saved them, then...

Then what? He'd be the coolest Morlock in the sewer? The one time he'd put himself in the line of fire in the hopes of adulation, it had just earned him a few days of Wanda's less-than-total disdain. The Toad was not the hero.

The junkyard lay on the outskirts of town, the line between Bayville and not-Bayville shared with other sprawling messes like a lumber mill and a freight yard. In this weather, almost all of it was just a lumpy, undifferentiated landscape of dirty snow. The lights were sparse, orange, and flat. It looked awful all by itself to Kurt, but an off-putting aesthetic was the least of their worries.

The gates into the junkyard were wide open, two pickup trucks and a couple of cars pulled up haphazardly in front of a dingy little building that must serve as an office. He recognized one of the cars as the one Todd had been messing with the other night, which was just the icing on the disaster cake.

Lucid was on the ground, tied up. Scaleface was in what he guessed was a crate intended for a very, very big dog. They were hard to catch sight of, surrounded by a half dozen men jeering and throwing insults. Insults and trash. They were clearly working themselves up, and the dog the crate probably belonged to was barking and carrying on in a way that made it clear they were about ready to escalate to more serious violence. Animals always picked it up first.

Kurt was only afraid for a moment before the initial wave of panic was swallowed by a vivid calm. He wasn't helpless, this time.

Evan's spikes were already heating up, but Rogue stepped in front of him. "You charge and they'll turn right on those two. We need a distraction so Kitty can go in."

"A really _good_ distraction," Kitty said nervously. "I can either, like, take one at a time or take one and then grab the other, but I don't think that'll even be faster. I'm super slow with two extra people. And they're far apart."

Evan bristled, but it was pretty obviously true. "Ideas, then?"

"Yup," Todd said abruptly. He hopped the short distance over to Kurt' side and tugged off the image inducer without bothering to ask. Kurt made a short sound of protest, but didn't bother beyond that. "How y'feel about bein' blonde, Roguey?"

She looked like she'd have liked to feed him his own socks for "Roguey," but she restrained herself."Talk fast, Scuzzo."

He'd kind of counted on that X-geek spirit of putting rescue before Toad-beating. "Those dudes? They're losers. Creepy losers. Even Pigskin McGridiron." He'd recognized his and Kurt's old adversary, too, nursing a broken nose. And Fuzzbutt wanted to play nice. "Prolly his uncle owns the place or whatever. Anyways, y'wanna mess with losers, y'give the fuckers a pretty girl who thinks they're cool."

"You'd be the expert, I guess." The comment stung, but only a little. "You want me to put that thing on, though?" She pointed at the inducer, which Todd was already hurriedly reprogramming. "What the heck are you gonna make me look like? An' I hate doin' stuff like that."

"Nobody's happy right now, sweetie." He finished his quick fix and handed Rogue the inducer. "There, try it out."

She looked reluctant, but fastened the thing on with a grimace. The scowl looked perfectly natural on the queen of the angry goths (winter edition), but distinctly weird on the wholesome blonde Todd had thrown together. There was absolutely nothing about the cheerleader-looking girl-image he'd find attractive, but then, he was a contrary bastard. He was under the distinct impression that this was what was generally considered hot.

"Whoa, I didn't know it could do that." Kitty leaned forward in amazement, then frowned. "Um, I can kinda see her real hair up around her hat, though."

"She's too tall for it," Todd explained. "Try not t'move your head too much, neither. Don't need this thing to bug out."

"That could happen?" The girl in Rogue's place sent a horrified look of realization at Kurt. The inducer failed all the time, of course, and messing with it made the thing tetchier.

"Get goin' quick, and you'll prolly be good." Todd looked over at the mutant-torturing party and winced. That looked like a beer can that had just been thrown. Bottles would probably be next, and those were a lot nastier. "We'll try and sneak up in case this don't work and we gotta bash some heads, and Kitty can run around and get them out the easy way."

"Guess that's why Kitty can't play the bait," Rogue said with something close to a growl. She turned away with her arm folded tightly over her chest and started toward the gate.

A lot of things, that girl, but not an actress. They could only hope that blond and shapely would make up for hunched and surly. "Maybe try an' don't sound too much like a Texas Ranger?" he whispered after her.

"I'm from Mississippi!"

"Whatever. It's all the same to me southa' the Bronx. There ain't a lotta you around. We don't wanna tip off that jock." It didn't seem likely, given the guy had the brainpower of a mop, but he was also on the lookout for mutants.

Rogue turned, plucked off her glove, and flicked Todd's forehead. The contact was so brief it didn't even hurt. It felt like looking right into a camera flash while tripping on a stair going up. "Just borrowin' that, then," she hissed, sounding for all the world like a Brooklyn native. Looking invigorated, she strode toward the men with a distinct swagger in her stride.

"Congratulations, you have the power to annoy people into action," Evan said, almost without overt hostility. "You really think this'll work?"

"It'll be weird," he said with a shrug. "Maybe she vamps it up, maybe she don't, an' hell, some of those dudes're prolly married or gay or only like redheads, but it'll be weird in a way that don't gotta mean a fight, a chick comin' up to them at night to be all, oh, hey, I love pickin' on mutants, too!"

"I buy it," Kurt said with a nod. "But we'll get close anyway. Hurry, around this way." He was good at sneaking, and as long as he was busy doing _something_, he wasn't getting scared. With Rogue using his inducer, he vanished right into each shadow like it was made for him, the orange lights turning the snow blue around the edges of each spot of darkness. Todd had his own flair for it and Evan had learned. Kitty cheated by dropping most of the way through the ground whenever she wasn't behind anything, moving much faster than the rest of them.

Kurt stopped to watch as Rogue reached the group. This wasn't the kind of job she was good at. Kitty really would have been better. Maybe they should have had Rogue borrow her powers. He'd have really liked to have Boom-boom, actually.

But Rogue was managing it. Her body language was distinctly constricted and, though he couldn't hear her in the wind, he could bet she was being quiet. But four of the men were paying attention to her... now five... The last, who looked older than the others, was busy glaring at their prisoners, and so was the dog.

"Come on, come on..." he heard Evan whisper.

"Crap, she can't keep their attention forever," Todd snarled. He could see Kitty because he knew what to look for. She was in place, but they needed that last guy and Rogue's hold on the jerk squad wouldn't hold forever. "Crawler, y'gotta do it."

"I can't! I would if I could, but I could land right in the middle of them."

"Yeah, well, don't." Rogue barely dodged an attempt to kiss her and was leaning back obviously from the football jerk trying to take her hand. Or, no, her waist. "This is gettin' bad, fool."

"But..."

"Go!" Evan said with a glare.

Todd suspected Kurt was turning white under his fur, if that was a thing he did, but he nodded and disappeared.

He didn't land in the middle of the crowd of mutie-bashers, at least. He landed right in front of the old man. Before he could cry out, Kurt grabbed his arm and ported as far as he could away from town. By the time the man had breath to yell, he was standing in the parking lot of a truck stop that had really good pie when it was open. Which it hadn't been all winter, due to necessary repairs that went slowly in the cold.

"There's a payphone over there, you big baby. You'll be fine." Kurt didn't even notice he'd landed where he'd meant to until he landed back in the junky yard, this time on the roof of the office, just in time to see all hell break loose.

Rogue's new friend leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek that she didn't dodge. He collapsed with a groan and a man who looked enough like him to be his father didn't get through his first invective before Rogue spun around to land a roundhouse kick in his gut. Two of the others had turned to check on the prisoners just in time to see Kitty pulling Lucid free of the ropes.

"Guys! Little help!" Kitty yelled, pushing the cowering Lucid behind her. On cue, Evan got the charge he'd wanted, hurling a row of blazing spikes into the ground between the prisoners and the oncoming attackers. Kurt didn't see Todd.

But he didn't have time to worry about that. He hurled himself off the roof, diving straight for the jock with a satisfyingly broken nose. There was the urge to get him back for the book winged at the side of his head at school, but that had already been payback. One of those vicious cycle things. Instead, Kurt held on once he'd struck, wincing at the impact with a block of solid muscle and then with the ground as they both hit. He ported again to the same parking lot.

This time he was off by a lot, but there weren't a lot of cars on the highway this time of night. The kid had time to jump out of the way and join the guy Kurt was willing to bet was his grandfather.

He didn't bother staying to say anything snarky. After all those long trips, even with just one passenger, he'd be starting to feel it even under normal circumstances. As he landed back in the drive-way, trying to take stock of the situation, he felt his vision swim for a moment. Not good.

Rogue had dropped two more, leaving just the man Evan was grappling with. She bolted over and knocked him on his back with a tap of her hand. Kitty had Scaleface out of the cage and was even putting a Hello Kitty band aid on a cut on her face.

"So... I guess we're okay now?" Kurt said hopefully. "Wait, where's Todd?"

"Off being a slimy coward somewhere?" Evan said with a sneer. "Let's get you two back, huh? Come on, we'd better-"

A short, indignant scream cut him off. Kurt ran toward it (just a little wobbly), accompanied by Rogue. Who had her own face back, he noticed, and who was looking extremely irritated with the universe.

Kurt took in the dog and a prone Todd consciously a moment after he'd already jumped. The animal was a confused mix of something bulldog-ish and something of a mastiff nature and something in the hyena family, and he'd have never gotten it off on his own.

He did get it onto the roof, though, and it was so confused he managed to jump back and port away again before it turned around to rip him to pieces instead. He landed on his knees three feet above the ground, ignored the thump, and blinked blearily at the others for a moment.

Then his head kicked into gear.

"Everyone alright?"

"Couple'a bumps and bruises on Lucid an' Scaleface. That dog got Toad pretty good, too." Rogue sounded like she'd just escaped the set of _Gone With the Wind_ again. Moreso than usual, actually. "We better get back underground fast. Those guys are already twitchin'."

Since Evan and Kitty were helping the rescued Morlocks (who didn't seem to be in need of physical support, but they no doubt appreciated the thought) and Rogue didn't seem like she wanted company that much, Kurt teetered over to Todd, who seemed unsure of how to move.

The dog bite on his right arm was plenty nasty enough, but it wasn't bleeding too bad. Or his coat was soaking it up. One of those. But when he tried to hop in his usual way, the injured arm wouldn't take the weight. He'd tried two limping jumps and settled on walking while glaring balefully at the universe.

"How deep is it?" asked his favorite German accent.

He turned around and scowled. "Could maybe go for stitches an' a rabies shot, yo."

"That bad?" Kurt started to reach for the arm and thought better of it. "We'd better-"

A sudden burst of white light blinded them all for a moment and they shut up, shielding their eyes as the van swung around. "You kids better be ready to fill me in," growled Logan. Todd felt it was one of his pleasanter growls. Didn't seem like he actually disapproved all that much.

There wasn't quite room for everyone in the van, so Kitty sat on Rogue's lap in the front and Todd crammed into the back with Kurt and Scaleface. Evan and Lucid got the free-standing seats in the middle, on account of being pointy and twitchy, respectively.

Spyke's over-the-shoulder glare made Todd want to cower, but it wouldn't do any good. "So were you leading the dog away from us, or did it just find you hiding?"

Little bit of both? "Actually, uh, I figured I could, y'know, calm it down. Spent time with one lately. But I guess the things just don't like me." Fact was, he wasn't a guy for finesse. Rogue dropping the creeps was probably the best way they could have solved the problem, along with Kurt thinning the ranks. "Hey, Fuzzy, where'd you take 'em?"

"Huh?"

Todd realized that Kurt was trying very hard not to fall asleep. He asked more pointedly. "The guys you ported off with. Where?"

"Mack's No Frills Dining."

"The place with the pie?"

"Ja."

"Mutie bashers shouldn't get pie."

"Entschuldigung." He might have been about to say more, but a yawn cut him off.

"Anybody hurt enough that I gotta swing by the Emergency Room?" Wolverine asked, ending the brief silence that followed.

"Callisto and Cybelle can patch us all up," Evan said, glancing at Todd and _not_ glowering, which might mean he got to be included. "Nothing too bad."

"This time. Tell Charles I told you all off for not waitin' around for me, at least."

"And if we're not careful, you'll do it next time?" Kitty giggled.

"Not funny, bub. I know why you did what you did, but things could have gone south any time. You could have had backup."

Todd half wanted to argue and he might have even been safe, since he didn't have to live with the lunatic. But some self-preservation instinct kept him from mouthing off to the scary guy with knives for hands. He let Spyke go ahead and do that.

Scaleface was leaning away from him, giving his injured arm space. He wasn't sure if he should thank her, since she was also determinedly staring out the window with the grimly determined air of someone trying not to think about what had just gone down. She might well be unaware he existed at the moment.

On his other side, Kurt gave up and fell asleep. Todd was prone to a claustrophobic kind of insomnia laced with involuntary mental recitations of all his flaws whenever he went to bed, so watching someone just lean back and conk out was oddly fascinating. It really was like having a cat.

They went over a speedbump and Todd learned that Logan didn't actually slow down when that happened. He was ready to complain—his arm didn't need to be bumped—but was distracted when the impact knocked an imperviously napping Kurt onto his shoulder.

He watched for most of a minute, making sure Blue Boy was actually asleep, that everyone in the front was busy arguing, that Scaleface wasn't paying attention to anything but the snowflakes tapping against the window and Lucid was staring into space (which for him was usually more interesting than for the rest of them, at least).

Kurt was on the good arm. Figuring he'd find a cover story if anyone noticed his contortions, Todd twisted his hand up and very lightly brushed his fingers against the ends of Kurt's hair. It actually did feel like cat fur more than human. Very thick and fine. Hell, part of him really had just been curious. He hadn't had time to notice much during grappling battles of the past, and while he had a sense that the fur on Kurt's skin felt something like he imagined warm velvet would feel, he hadn't been sure about the regular hair.

But it really didn't feel any different than petting a cat would. As with the times he'd managed to glom onto Wanda for a second before she injured him, contact didn't really mean anything when it was one-sided. In his imaginings, it was being petted and kissed and held _back_ that mattered.

Todd turned his hand and shoved gently with his palm. "Get off, Crawler." Kurt muttered something and squirmed away as much as the crowded seat allowed, and Todd stared resolutely at his feet all the way back to the sewer.


	12. Chapter 12

Kurt almost had time to fall deeply asleep on the way home, in which case he was pretty sure he'd have been let go until morning. But he was conscious enough to answer when Kitty called him, so he trudged up to the professor's office with the girls and Logan. He was groggy, but not enough to forget that he was probably walking into the conversation he'd been trying so hard to avoid.

He was surprised to realize it was only nine. It felt like midnight, but the usual buzz of finishing homework and bickering over limited resources like phones and hot water was in full swing. Kurt found some entertainment value in the funny looks they got, filing up with Wolverine glaring behind them. It was quite a walk of shame, especially featuring three of the most experienced students. He even heard Jamie whisper, "Wow, what'd _they_ do?"

Professor Xavier looked up from his newspaper with an expression of perfectly mild interest that suggested to Kurt he'd already been appraised of the situation. He wondered how old you had to be before adults would stop trying to urge you to own up to your infractions even when they knew damn well what you did.

"Kids got somethin' they oughta tell yah, Charles," Logan said, leaning against the doorway with extreme nonchalance.

"Okay, so, it was, like, totally an emergency, and we did try and keep it, um, non-violent, you know?" Kitty folded pretty quickly under this kind of pressure. "Even though that didn't work. 'Cus, see, some of the Morlocks were missing and Evan said they'd already been having problems, and if we'd waited for help we might not have gotten there on time at all!"

"But we could have called and asked someone to meet us there," Rogue said, apparently deciding to cover their bases with a little humility. "No one got hurt, though. Well, not in a way that'll stick. Except Toad." She stopped and looked to Kurt, hoping he'd have a save.

He didn't, so he decided on honesty. And actually describing what had happened, which the girls had gone ahead and completely forgotten about. "Me, Rogue, Evan, Kitty, and Todd went to the junk yard to look for Lucid and Scaleface. They were tied up and a half-dozen guys were all ready to do them some serious damage. We tried to extract them without a fight, but we didn't quite manage. Rogue dropped four of them, and I teleported the other two away."

"And I kicked that guy," Rogue said quietly, looking a little bit pleased with herself.

"Yeah, way to be, Rogue," Kitty muttered.

"I see. And what is your assessment, Logan?" The professor folded his hands in his lap, withholding a reaction for now.

"Kids did alright." He shrugged. "Besides points off for not callin', don't know how it could have gone better."

"But we did attack human civilians," Kurt said firmly. "And the Morlocks would never come up to testify, so this has the potential to be a huge mess even though we were in the right."

"I don't wish to leave my students paralyzed by second-guessing," the professor said firmly. "You followed your instincts and prevented needless suffering on both sides, and it sounds as though you chose tactics to do the least possible harm. You should have called for help, however. I'll refrain from specific punishment, but I expect you all to be willing to take responsibility for your choices and follow this through to the end."

"Of course we will, professor!" Kitty seemed like she'd been looking for a way to justify the whole mess to herself, and she jumped at the chance. Rogue just nodded and Kurt agreed more quietly.

"In that case, I won't keep you any longer. Though Kurt, if you have nothing pressing to do before bed?"

Kurt thought about making an excuse, but he was going to be pinned down eventually. Right now he still had some leftover energy from the fight in him. They'd won, even at a cost, and he didn't think he'd start feeling helpless again right away. And he'd be going to bed after, so he'd have eight hours to cope if he needed them. He sat down, wondering which question he didn't want to answer he'd hear first.

"Have your parents arrived in their new home yet, Kurt?"

Small talk? Well, alright. "Ja. I don't have a lot of details. I just got a quick email to say they'd made it."

"Even under the circumstances, I was very glad to have a chance to meet them in person," Xavier said, wheeling back behind his desk to shuffle papers in a vaguely important-looking way. "They're very interesting people in their own right, of course, but even a telepath can appreciate a new perspective. For instance, I had no idea you were thinking about journalism come college."

"Oh, um, that's definitely not settled." This was not the talk he'd expected to have. "If I stay here for school I'll be able to wait until second year to choose." He did like the idea of the additional freedom in the American university model.

"You certainly shouldn't plan to shoehorn yourself into a particular future at sixteen," Xavier said with a small smile. "But it is an intriguing idea."

"I'm really only good at words and people. Besides climbing walls and disappearing, I mean." Kurt knew his future plans didn't much comport with anyone's idea of him, and he'd been ready to defend the idea for a while. It was just that no one had asked.

"And I suppose one could hardly be raised by two writers and not intend to carry on the tradition."

"Jawohl. I did have an idea that I could put together my old journals into... something. Call it _Growing Up Mutant_. But we lost them all in the fire." He cringed a little just mentioning the disaster, but he'd gotten far enough into the statement to communicate without anything breaking down internally. Progress.

"And that is a loss. I suspect there'll be a great need for stories of the kind in the years to come. The most important battles are waged with ideas." Xavier folded his hands on the desk. "As I'm sure you know, Kurt, I've been talking to the other teachers and keeping track of you. Your responses to what happened are entirely normal and healthy, but they still need to be addressed proactively."

And there went that pleasant little interlude. Kurt felt his tail curl around the leg of the chair he was sitting in and sat back up, catching himself halfway through his recently acquired habit of acting like a turtle when he was called out.

"I find it most worrisome that you've been shutting people out, Kurt. You're an unusually sensitive young man and naturally... gregarious." That didn't quite feel like a compliment. "And cognitive therapy certainly shouldn't be off the table. But I think it's very important for you to stay engaged and involved right now."

Kurt's gaze had dropped to the floor and his hands were twisted together, but he was still sitting up straight. "I, um, that sounds alright."

"In the interests of which, I've devised a project for you, although schoolwork will, of course, take priority." The professor picked up the stack of papers Kurt hadn't given any thought. It just seemed like Charles Xavier should have a big stack of important-looking reading material all the time. "I make it a point to keep abreast of developments regarding mutants, and I have a fairly extensive network to draw on. However, I'm certain you're my superior in German, and I suspect your French and Russian outstrip my own, as well."

"French, maybe." Had his mother been talking him up? Curses. But Kurt was surprised to find he _was_ drawn to this idea. It sounded like extra homework on the surface, but even if the professor was giving him the job as a charity project, it was a real job. Something he'd be good at, that would make a real difference.

"French is a start. I happen to know that Quebec, for instance, is responding to the mutant issue in its own way, as per usual. And while Logan's observations on the Canadian front can be quite useful, I don't suspect him of familiarity with that side of the country."

Kurt saw what the joke was supposed to be, but he'd learned his French from his mother, and she'd studied in Paris for a year. Her perspective wasn't particularly romanticized after dragging herself through on a student's budget, and the muddy Parisian accent made Quebecois sound normal enough to him. He smiled and nodded anyway.

"I'd like to do that, professor. I was thinking a little bit about, um, starting a blog..." That word sounded so silly. He'd been mulling over the idea for months, but he'd forgotten it in the mess of the last weeks. Now it came to mind and then to mouth before he could think about it. "Really anonymous, of course. I'll see what I can remember from my journals while there's still some hope of it."

"You have my permission." Xavier gave an approving nod. "If you'd like to take a more active role in mutant press, that is."

"I would."

"Excellent. Now I suppose you had better get ready for bed. You had quite a long day."

"Ja." Kurt stood, feeling infinitely better than he'd expected to. He was halfway to the door before he remembered he had another question. "Professor, do you think there's anything more we could do for the Morlocks?"

"I've extended invitations to stay with us and made it clear I'd be glad to lend resources, but they simply do not trust me. Convincing Callisto to accept supplies was all I could do."

"I see." And if they didn't care for Xavier, then he'd probably seem even more like a traitor. But maybe... Kurt nodded politely.

Once released, Kurt went straight to bed. He was exhausted, but not enough that he didn't spend half an hour or so staring at the ceiling, mulling things over.

Todd had had stitches a few times before and hated it. Strangely, he didn't mind quite so much now that he was sitting on an upside-down milk crate in a tunnel rimed with filthy ice. He hated hospitals as much as any mutant with physical tells, but he also just generally hated sterility and having people pay attention when he was hurt. He'd learned as a clumsy, picked-on child to minimize the damage of any injury, and when he couldn't help taking a blow he instinctively disguised it like a prey animal trying not to give its predators a better target. Fussing medical professionals and their scrutiny definitely made him feel like he was about to be eaten.

He appreciated that Callisto's bedside manner consisted of insisting he down a couple swigs of cheap scotch and telling him to sit still. When she was done she inspected her work, nodded, and clapped him a little too hard on the shoulder. At least it was the one opposite his new Frankenarm.

"There. If it starts to go bad on you, we have some antibiotics in the medical kits."

"No problem. That never happens." A general philosophy of living in endless filth had built him an immune system that kicked everything's ass.

"Good. It's a limited supply." She stood and slathered her hands in more rubbing alcohol. "You eat anything today?"

"Yeah, back at the boarding house." Stale cup noodles from the microwave. Awesome.

"Good. Aim for protein and iron content over the next few days. And fluids." She turned and walked off. Todd had already learned that the boss lady didn't go in much for hellos and goodbyes.

He grumpily stood and screwed his eyes shut against the headrush. The booze had helped with not minding the needle in his skin, but he wasn't going to try and hop with this arm and standing was clearly going to be a problem.

"Hey, little guy." It took him a moment to recognize the voice as Scaleface's. He'd only actually heard her speak once or twice. For a lady who turned into a dinosaur, she was very chill. "Good job up there. Here, take one of these."

She passed him one of the blankets the Institute had sent along. Todd nodded gratefully, but she was already heading off to her own bed. Todd watched, frowned, and started toward his own half-finished nook. He was kind of drunk, deeply tired, and shaky in the way that followed a crazy adrenaline rush anyway. He should just crash.

As he trudged back to bed, though, he was stopped twice, once by Lucid and Facade for more thanks, once by Cybelle with a baggy of aspirin and a hot chocolate. The coco itself was the regular kind made with powder and water, but use of the hot plate represented precious output from the generator.

The whole thing was fucking surreal. Todd shook his head in disbelief as Cybelle wandered off, but it made him dizzy, so he focused on getting the rest of the way to his little cubby. He'd only started construction on it early this afternoon, between repairs on toys. It consisted of a corner and a propped-up sheet of drywall he'd spent an hour dragging from the subway station that wasn't. The dark space inside held just blankets, a short-wave radio that he liked fiddling with, and the book-safe he'd brought from the boarding house.

Not much, but he really just needed someplace to sleep it off. He dropped onto all fours and had crawled halfway in when he heard shuffling behind him. He wriggled out again to find Torpid waiting with a picture book held to her chest, looking plaintive.

"Aw, geeze, kiddo." He closed his eyes and breathed deep, trying to shake the nauseous dizziness that came with the scotch and the bite. "May not be up to it. Maybe read it yourself tonight?"

The look she gave him went from pleading to rather angrily embarrassed.

Shit. "Oh, uh, can't do that, huh? Well, real quick, okay?" He might have been able to send her to someone else, but now he felt bad. He wasn't sure how old she was, but she was at least big enough for first or second grade. Had no one bothered to teach her, or did she have too much trouble with it? He'd been kind of slow to pick up letters himself.

Todd sat with his back against the wall and opened the book up, working hard to get his eyes to focus. "Oh, hel- heck, cool, I remember this one. Okay, so. Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world. Through the meadow they went, down the road, over the bridge..."

Kurt was feeling a bit buried, but a week's worth of being Charles Xavier's foreign media secretary on top of his usual schoolwork would do that. He shuffled together his variously hasty translations of the articles he'd been through today in something like alphabetical order. As he shoved everything into it manilla envelope for delivery to the professor's desk, he turned and realized it was completely dark out now. Winter could do that, of course, but it was always a surprise to find that the day had disappeared while he was facing away from the window.

It definitely made him want to take the fun way to the office. Kurt opened the door to his balcony, intending to climb the side of the building. A knock at the door kept him from launching himself up. Kurt ducked back inside ruefully, though he hadn't put on a coat and maybe it was a better idea to be inside.

"Ja, what's up?" he said as he opened the door and found Amara outside.

"Hi, Kurt." She smiled at him cheerfully. "So, um, the professor said we got a request from the Morlocks for some kid stuff, and since I've been doing an early childhood education class, he sent me to pick stuff out. So I'm supposed to give it to you, I guess?" She held up a shopping bag, looking mildly confused.

A request from the Morlocks. He had a feeling he knew which one. "We're going to do the delivery tonight. What did you get?"

She spread out the selection on his desk. There were two workbooks, one for phonics and one for simple arithmetic, a pile of picture books, and a doll and a set of tiny metal cars. A little generic, but that didn't strike him as the important part. They were shiny and new.

"This all look perfect. Have you met the Morlocks?"

"Just a few times. These are for... Oh, what's her name?"

"Torpid. I don't know if she has another." He only knew the nickname for sure because Evan had said last time he'd seen her, he realized guiltily. "Thanks, Amara. Are you coming on the drop?"

"No, I've got an ice skating class."

He couldn't help looking at her a little confoundedly. "Ice skating?"

She giggled. "Jubilee and Rahne convinced me. It's actually really fun, and as long as the water's ice, it doesn't bother me. Did you know ice is technically a rock?"

"No, I didn't." Kurt returned all the items to a box and stuck it under one arm, figuring he'd take the inside route, anyway. "How does that work, anyway?"

Amara fell into step with him, looking enthusiastic to say the least. She'd managed to talk her way onto the earth science class and geology club despite still being a sophomore, probably just because Kelly didn't want her in his office. Kurt was only the very slightest bit interested in the technical properties of ice, but he was pleased to find that he could carry on small talk with a fellow student and not edge on panic or want to retreat to the nearest small space to sit in the dark. Keeping busy did make a big difference.

Kurt dropped off the day's press releases and interesting articles on the professor's desk, though the man himself was out of town until at least the next day. Things had distinctly not settled down after Augie Monroe (his name had finally popped up in reports, and at least they didn't have to call him "that politician's kid" anymore) and his very public first manifestation. Kurt was very glad his own powers didn't have the potential to blow things up.

He hurried down with the bag of books and toys once he realized he'd been mulling in the office for a few minutes. He wasn't surprised that he didn't see Rogue or Kitty next to the van. They'd probably had plenty of the sewers last week. Half of him agreed, but he wanted to see this through. And he grinned when he saw Boom-boom waiting instead.

"So, sewers. You know how to show a girl a good time, huh, Blue?" She bumped him with her elbow a little too hard for most people's standards of teasing and left him to pack up the back.

No Wolverine this time. With the professor gone, the other teachers seemed fairly convinced that anarchy was a moment from breaking out at any moment (admittedly, not entirely without precedent).

Kurt very determinedly climbed into the driver's seat. He liked Tabby. He even understood better than most where her chaotic miasma of bravado ended and the real girl began (and it wasn't where people would usually think to look, either). But he didn't want to be in any vehicle she was in charge of piloting.

It was a clear night for once, but deeply cold. Kurt's teeth were actually chattering, which always felt a bit silly when it happened in real life. These were the kind of conditions that made him want to curl up and conserve energy, especially when the ride probably wouldn't be long enough for the heat to kick in.

Not so with Tabby. "You finish your Spanish paper?" she asked as they pulled out into traffic.

"Nein."

"I'm barely started. And not for the usual reasons! 'Cus, see, I'm actually really into this Don Quixote guy. I think he's got the right idea, y'know? Like, what kind of world would this be if we all put bowls on our heads and went out to battle evil."

"We do that. We do exactly that." He winced as the car skidded a little at a stop sign. There was a thin crust of ice over all of Bayville, it felt like.

"Okay, yeah, but what if we also got donkeys?"

He was very glad when they reached the drop-off shed. Getting the boxes down with just the two of them was enough of a pain that it mostly kept Tabby quiet. The double load of kerosene nearly killed them both.

Tabby carried Torpid's bag while Kurt pushed the dolly along. He suspected she was stronger than he was, but he didn't really want to argue about it. At least this time he remembered the way. Sort of. They weren't too lost when Facade found them, anyway. And they'd probably have found the Morlocks' main living area eventually. It was much better lit than last time.

"Wow, the digs are lookin' fine, Inviso-dude," Boom-boom said at a volume that bounced off the enclosed space and made Cybelle and Evan wince at the table.

"I'm a little worried about attracting attention, but it is nice not to trip so often," Callisto said, appearing from a shadow. Kurt suspected that she'd find some shadows no matter how well lit the room was. (Maybe she'd teach him if he asked nicely.) She was a little less terrifying than usual bundled in the dark purple coat Xavier had sent along a month ago. He understood why she'd waited until this cold snap to wear it.

"This all goes in the usual pantry?" Kurt made sure to focus on her and not seem to be looking around for either Torpid or Todd. She nodded. In the back room, accompanied by Tabby's babbling, Kurt found himself communicating in vague grunts and paying just enough attention to put the cans of food and fuel on different shelves.

He'd spent the week busy almost every moment he was awake. Getting the website off the ground and his news monitoring took a lot of time, but he'd thrown himself into homework and danger room sessions and made himself socialize, too. He might, he realized, have snapped back too far in the other direction. And he hadn't known until now how much he'd been looking forward to coming down to freaktown and just being blue for a while. And he wasn't sure if that would work in present company.

But Boom-boom, being Boom-boom, solved the problem for him once they'd unloaded. "Okay, Blue. I got stuff to do. Cover for me if you're up to it, huh?"

"No. I know better than that." But he spoke with affection.

"Aw. Well, I'll try and be back. It's not like they're gonna think it's your fault I ran off."

"Just don't get eaten by anything." Nowadays you had to reach a little further for a warning absurd enough that it worked as a joke.

She was gone by the time he started tying the empty boxes back on the dolly. He left it propped outside the storage room and went to find Torpid.

He was glad to find Todd with her, realizing then how important the Toad was to his plans to relax. But aside from a grin and a short wave, he kept his attention on the kid. "Hey, remember me?" She didn't look thrilled to see him, but it was hard to read a child who didn't speak and seemed reluctant to smile. "Right. Anyway, the professor heard you could use a few things. My friend Amara picked these out. She's pretty smart. You'll have to tell me how she did."

He sat down cross-legged in front of her, carefully avoiding the grubby toys scattered around. Her reaction to the workbooks was either perfectly concealed or nothing at all, but it was hard to imagine a little kid getting excited about what was basically schoolwork. The picture books did it, though. She was definitely watching him and pleased, though quietly. And when he pulled out the doll and the cars, she jumped up and clapped, an odd, thudding sound with the size of her hands and the thick gloves she wore.

She paused, looked at him a little warily, and held out a hand for him to shake. It was an awkward, stiff thing to see a kid do, but he was willing to play along. Small children, in Kurt's view, were a sort of unknowable alien race. It wasn't like he _wanted_ her to insist on hugging. He shook her hand solemnly.

Torpid let go and busied herself with ceremoniously extracting each little car from the packaging. Todd stood up, swinging the camping lantern he was trying to rewire from one hand, and nodded to Kurt. They both beat a retreat down the tunnel.

"Think she'll wanna just enjoy gettin' real new stuff for a while," he observed.

"Looks like." kurt smirked. "I wouldn't have guessed you'd make a good babysitter."

"Turns out, huh?" Todd shrugged noncommittally. He was, he realized, headed for his own "room." He'd improved it considerably, though he'd spent five of the past seven nights at the boarding house like usual. It was pretty good as cobbled-together construction went, but he wasn't sure a guest would exactly fit. But they could hang outside. If they were, indeed, hanging. They could sit on the sheetrock slab on cinder blocks he was using for a work table. "Howzit?"

"I'm in therapy now, it's now my job to know every awful thing that happens to mutants anywhere in the world, Amanda's gone, I still can't teleport straight, and I think I might have sprained my tail after that ice storm on Thurday. You?"

Todd took a moment, parsed all those details but one as a matter of course, and reminded himself to come back to the Amanda thing later. "I live in a sewer now an' it's a big improvement."

"You win."

The Toad-hole they were coming up on had come a long way from a slightly protected triangle to crash in. Todd had managed to secure the wall upright and draped a couple old curtains from Goodwill by way of a roof and door. He thought they were a particularly fine touch, since they were obnoxious shades of purple and gold and even tasteless color schemes livened things up when everything else was gray. The table was hastily converted to a bench by the simple expediency of putting his in-progress projects in one of the many milk crates that made up the bulk of Morlock furnishings.

"What are you working on?" Kurt asked, settling in without needing an invitation.

"Stuff?" He was evasive before he'd even thought about it. "Don't know for sure yet, really. We wanna minimize the power we use, so it might not all be a good idea. I'm tinkerin' around, see if maybe I can work out an alarm system that don't pull too much from the grid. Intercoms are a maybe, but that's way in the future. Plus there's some... whatever." He got ideas.

"I hope you haven't been going back to the junk yard," Kurt said with a frown, examining the half-disassembled telephone on top of the pile.

"Ahahaha. No death wish, actually." He shrugged. "Garbage an' Goodwill." And he actually paid them almost all the time. He was sleazy, sure, but he didn't steal from charities. He'd been holding off on lifting wallets and all his other old favorites in the world of petty crime, not wanting to bring trouble back here. Sometimes the opportunity was just too good, though, and then the cash went to food and used electronics from the thrift store. Todd sank onto the bench next to Kurt. He didn't think until a moment later that choosing exactly where to sit should be awkward.

He heard a snicker and Kurt held up the rest of the bakelite phone, now doodled all over with frogs in permanent marker.

"I got bored, man. Needed a break."

Kurt simply tapped one finger under a pretty good attempt at drawing a coat of arms, a toad in the middle of catching a fly, the shield randomly festooned with curly bits of ribbon.

"Shaddup."

"Considering my family's involves a greyhound that looks more like a sheep? I like your idea better." Creative graffiti, anyway." Kurt smirked and set the festooned phone down. "Pretty good for sharpie on plastic. The toad rampant?"

"Huh?"

"That's the pose you have it in. ...Never mind, I'm being a nerd."

"Oh, yeah, that's exactly like usual, so I couldn't tell." Todd shoulder-checked him. Lightly, since they were sitting and because his arm was still a little tender.

Kurt fake-scowled back, which Todd was learning involved him wrinkling his nose in a slightly adorable way. "It's all pretty impressive in a very you way," he observed, leaning back. "Have you been at school at all?"

"Nah, don't even know if I'm enrolled right now." That was the kind of thing Mystique had looked into. It was anybody's guess where she was. "Ain't like I'm gonna finish. Don't know why I should bother now." He could see Kurt looking for something obnoxious to say. "Hey, you got brainy parents, an' you ain't so dumb yourself. Me? Never was gonna work out. The school thing, I mean."

"I guess it's not for everyone," Kurt said hesitantly. He was a bit of a snob in that respect. If (once his image inducer made it possible) he'd suggested for a moment that he wasn't going to college, he'd have been banished to the woodshed. Something that basic got under the skin. "What do you want to do, then?"

"You mean if I get a choice that ain't hide in the sewer?"

"Ja, hypothetically. If all mutants haven't been exterminated or interred in secret government facilities by the time we're eighteen." Black humor didn't exactly suit Kurt, but he gave it a good shot.

Todd suddenly caught on. "...Your folks put you up to this?"

"Maybe kinda a little." Kurt looked away, but he was smiling. He didn't feel too guilty.

And he didn't need to. Todd's irritation at being drawn into a weird discussion about the future was entirely drowned out by the idea that there were concerned parents asking about him. With so few concerned adults in his life, he wasn't asked annoying things about his goals at a normal rate, anyway. It didn't even bug him, he decided. "Whatever, furball. Uh, if stuff works out, I guess I'll prolly be a mechanic. Or, like, whatever repairs. I like cars best."

"You'd be good at that," Kurt said with a nod. "Good, I'll have something to tell them next time it comes up."

"Your parents, man."

"Ja."

They went on chatting. Todd was glad Kurt was so easy to talk to. It let him keep some attention to spare for keeping himself in line. It really was a huge pain in the ass to want to make out with somebody a lot and not say so. The impulse to slavish flirting was a strong one. Fortunately, his usual pet names didn't seem right for a guy, and he'd been calling Kurt Furball and Fuzzy and Blue Boy for as long as they'd known each other. That seemed to do for affectionate nicknames, but he still wanted to either pounce or start expounding about eternal devotion at any moment.

And he had no idea what would happen. Wanda would ignore, insult, or injure him depending on her mood. He couldn't picture Kurt lashing out physically. Which was funny considering how many very physical altercations they'd had, but fuzzbutt wasn't the kind to take a swing at a friend. He could only assume it'd be one of the other two, but the idea of being made fun of or ignored bothered him a lot. More than it would with Wanda.

It was that stupid sliver of hope acting up again, he was pretty sure. And he didn't even dare risk squashing it out of existence. He'd be better off, but it might also mean not getting visits from his blue buddy anymore.

This could really suck.

After half an hour, Kurt figured he'd really better get back. He didn't want to leave the mental sanctuary that seemed to be equal parts the Morlocks and Todd's company, but there was school tomorrow and they'd probably be starting to wonder what was keeping him back at the Institute.

He moved to his feet with a liquid grace Todd could appreciate almost fully. No inducer, but the bulky winter clothes were a bit of an impediment. "I better go grab the boxes and head out."

"I'll come. Brain's too dead for more work tonight." Besides, work was against his religion. He didn't want anybody thinking he was industrious.

"Sure." Kurt was beginning to learn his way around. They passed a few more bedrooms, one Cybelle's, one Torpid's. Callisto and Facade waved to them on the way through the main room, not interrupting their poker game with actual spoken greetings. Retrieving the dolly took dodging around Evan and Scaleface chatting about... basketball something. The game was one American affectation Kurt hadn't bothered to learn about.

It seemed to him that there was more life down here than when he'd first started coming. Was he better at seeing it, or had something changed?

"Y'ever ride on these things?" Todd asked, never having had any respect for abstract reflections. Kurt noticed the shorter boy was actually walking behind him. The arm must still be an issue.

Kurt looked down at the dolly on cue. "I never thought of that."

"Used to do it when I was a kid. Well, sometimes. You need to trust the guy pushin' to not dump you on your face." Accidentally or on purpose.

The most fun thing about talking to Todd was the surreal randomness of the things that came out of his mouth. Kurt smiled back at him. "Next drop, I won't put the boxes back on until after we ride around a little."

"Kay, but just bring small people. Like, Kitty and... what's that little guy's name?" The newer students who weren't Tabby had never had much to do with the Brotherhood.

"Jamie? We go over a bump down here and we'll have too many of him to fit in the tunnel," Kurt observed. He sighed when he came up to the ladder. "Here's my stop." He wrapped his tail around the rungs of the ladder, took a step up backwards, and sighed.

"Ain't there usually more of you?" Todd observed.

"Ja, Tabby ran off. This thing isn't really heavy, but it's big, and I don't want to take all the boxes off again." He really missed reliable teleporting. "Give me a hand?"

"No problem." He oughta have his head examined. Todd hopped over to stand underneath and push so Kurt could pull. He ended up halfway up the ladder and feeling lame because, seriously, ladders were for normies and he was the master of vertical surfaces.

At street level, Kurt shivered once and then opened the car to toss the dolly in. He didn't realize he wasn't alone until he slammed the trunk closed and saw movement, the hurried twitch of the very startled.

He almost tried to port. He hadn't turned his inducer back on, busy with the dolly and comfortable in a space chosen expressly because it was hidden from most passing eyes. But his recent difficulty gave him just enough pause to realize that whoever it was had jumped when he slammed the trunk, not on sight, and was still standing there, not screaming or threatening.

His eyes had needed a moment to adjust between maintenance tunnel lights and street lights, but he was the amazing Nightcrawler. He could see her just fine now, and somehow he knew exactly who she was.

He didn't know how he knew. There was no likeness at all in the face. The woman was quite pretty, in a fine-boned, old fashioned sort of way. Ingenue in a sophisticated British movie pretty. She looked very young, too. It was hard to see her as more than thirty, though maybe that was because she was so short. Size was probably it. There was some similarity in the coloring, but that was hard for even him to spot at night, and there were a lot of pale brunettes in the world.

But he still knew. Before he'd begun to figure out what to do with the information, she spoke. Kurt was polite enough that that cornered him. "Well, _you_ gotta know him."


	13. Chapter 13

The voice didn't quite fit its owner. That, at least, belonged to an older woman, deeper than such a tiny person should have and dusted with a hint of a smoker's growl. It threw Kurt for yet another loop. "I... sorry... Was?" The last syllable came out in a squeak as well as the wrong language. He might have decided to _play_ dumb if he'd had a few more seconds. As it happened, he pretty much just... was dumb.

"I need to find my kid. Todd. Mutie. Your age..." She didn't seem certain about that. Kurt supposed it might be tough to figure out a furry guy's age in the dark.

Before Kurt could embarrass himself further, there was a soft thud at his side. That had been an impressive jump even for the Toad. Kurt instinctively put out an arm to keep him from sliding on the ice.

Todd caught his arm back and leaned in, pretending none-too-convincingly to still be flailing a bit. "Do _not_ ditch me," he hissed, and Kurt might have taken offense if not for the fear in his friend's eyes. Not a threat or a demand, but the only way Todd knew to plea_. _Kurt was an expert at oncoming panic lately. "I will fuckin' owe you... whatever. Just don't."

"Ja, mein freund," he said evenly. This was already impossibly unpleasant, but he remembered what Todd had said about his mother. They weren't supposed to be alone together. Of course Todd was scared.

But while Kurt settled that in his head, Todd also closed the gap between them as soon as he was done whispering. And hugged her. "Hey, Ma."

"Hey, Toddie."

"You know you ain't supposed to be here." He didn't seem to be accusing her of wrongdoing, exactly.

"Yeah. Emergency."

Todd stood still while she broke off to fumble in a beat-up purse and get out a cigarette. Even on her best days, you had to be patient about her just... stopping. She'd usually pick up the thread again. He studied her quietly while she got the thing lit. Her coat was meant for fall and had seen better days, but at least she had one, and a scarf, too. Her hair wasn't exactly combed, but it was back in a ponytail. No makeup, which in his experience was a good sign. There were a lot of subtle indications he'd never forget how to read. She was pretty good right now.

Which meant she wasn't here on account of crazy, and she'd probably have written to him if she was thinking in terms of actually communicating like real people. She kind of had a thing for letters. He kept all the good ones. And she had his address right now, he knew. He'd gotten a birthday card this year.

And that meant he had no idea what was going on. Once the cigarette was lit and between her lips, he gave her a bit of a nudge. "Emergency?"

"Trixie."

"Trixie?" He knew the kid existed. He even had photographic evidence. He'd never internalized it, though, despite the fact that he'd long ago calculated his mother must have been pregnant the night she'd left him for the police station. Patricia Sandoval was a stranger lost somewhere else in the foster care system and certainly better off for not knowing him.

"Yeah, turns out I popped out two of you." She took a long drag on her smoke, eyes distant and tired. "So much for it bein' all your daddy's fault, huh?"

Todd wished for just a moment that he'd told Kurt to fuck off as that news sunk in. Another lost little freak in the world. He was surprised at how hard it struck him. According to most of what he'd heard, the numbers were only going to go up and his link to the kid in question was tenuous at best. But one more poor kid facing a world that knew what to call her... He clenched his jaw for a moment and tried to come back to the present. "Wait, you see her?"

"Sometimes. Ain't screwed up all my chances yet. She's come back to live with me a couple times." She paused and he saw her shoot Kurt a look. Todd refused to react (though he heard his friend shift awkwardly and pretend to cough behind him) and she went on after a moment. "She's a good kid."

Without having spent too much time with any of her biological relations, that might even be true. "So... what, you want me to come to the City and talk to her?" That sounded awkward for everyone, but he'd do it.

"Huh?" She looked blank for a moment that went on a little too long. He wondered what meds she was on right now. They were working, but the side effects were throwing off his read of the woman. "Oh. No, her foster parents kicked her. Seemed like okay people when I saw 'em a couple months ago. Guess they caught her an' freaked."

"Fuck." He was angrier than he was alarmed, but not quite enough to push out the slight sense of weakness that came with just being scared. "So... what?" He had given the foster care system plenty of trouble, but he had no idea of what happened when the other side of the equation was the problem. There had to be safeguards in place, but whether they'd be enforced for a mutant, he couldn't say.

"So you gotta take her." Her eyes narrowed, but before she reached that point that Todd knew to be afraid of, her face smoothed out again. "I did kinda wanna take her back. Give her a home to be a teenager in, at least. But I ain't ready now. Hell knows if I'll ever be. I need to be this drugged or... You know. Shit starts happening. An' as soon as the pills run out or I forget or I just get fuckin' tired of sleepin' twelve hours a day... You know damn well it ain't no place for a kid with me."

"Yeah." He knew this upset her, that she did want to take care of her children and it was better for them all that she knew she couldn't. But he'd never actually forgiven her for it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurt struggling to find something to say and hoped he'd stay shut up. "You remember how I'm seventeen, right?"

"That's when I started fuckin' up, ain't it?" She was referring, of course, to the birth of her son. "Don't set the bar high askin' you to do better'n your mom."

Before he could protest again, he realized what he could do. "Okay. Where's Trixie?"

"Back at the hotel, not freezin' her ass off askin' everyone in town where the muties hang out." She shoved her hands in her pockets and started out of the little alley.

And that had sent her to wait outside the Morlocks' main exit? He'd have to tell Callisto, but he put that aside. Todd hesitated enough to put a few steps between her and them and turned to Kurt. He'd have preferred that Blue Boy not see this, but now he needed the guy to stay for reason beyond his own safety. "What do I owe you so far?" He'd meant to whisper, but he hadn't thought he'd sound so strained. Ugh.

"It's fine." Kurt switched on his image inducer. "Still want me to...?" He wasn't sure what he was offering to do aside from be a buffer and wish the ground would open up and swallow him. He could tell Todd was even more uncomfortable, and while he'd only half been able to follow the conversation, he got the outcome. The stakes here were more than just emotional health.

"C'mon." How, exactly, he'd get Kurt back for this one he didn't know, but he was very glad not to be alone. Quite aside from his deliberate machinations.

The walk went by in weighty, unpleasant silence, Kurt and Todd walking side by side behind her. At least it wasn't a long way. The hotel (a generous word for a place with hourly rates and bullet proof glass around the front desk) was a sketchy place to say the least. The rooms opened to the outside and the building looked ready to collapse, but Kurt was most struck by the parking lot. Everything from a car with several holes rusted entirely through the chassis to oddly anonymous luxury cars you had to look at very carefully to realize how fancy they were.

They'd been doing their best to stand back from her by clear but unspoken agreement, and as she fought with the key, Kurt whispered, "What do I call your mother?"

"...That's your question."

"That's the question you can answer right now."

"I _think_ her last name's Milholland, but she was married for a little bit, at least, so...Not sure. Might just call her Jasmine an' be safe."

That didn't seem polite, but before Kurt could object, she had the door open and they hurried in to keep the winter from rushing in with them.

The room was so grim as to make the Morlocks' hangout seem homey. Everything was faded to the same gray-brown, and the ancient prints of flowers leeched to dirty sepia looked a lot more unpleasant than no decoration at all. An irritating jingle on TV about the merits of chewing gum jarred unpleasantly with the whole. This was the place hope went to die.

Kurt would have guessed the girl on the bed was ten years old or so, but given how tiny her mother and brother were, he suspected she was older. She'd manifested her mutation, after all, and while ten wasn't unheard of, it was pretty young. He thought she looked rather like her mother in the face, but her hair was black and her skin a coppery brown, erasing any possible resemblance to Todd. Coke-bottle glasses held together with tape broke up the lines of her face and obscured any expression, but the lenses magnified mottled-brown eyes with no whites and slitted pupils.

Aside from that she was pretty normal looking, but it was a clear tell in a world that knew about mutants. And since she was lying down in a sweatshirt and jeans too big for her, Kurt had to admit he might have missed more giveaways.

He left off studying her and leaned back against the wall, wishing he could be invisible. Unfortunately, the bare bulb that lit the room didn't leave any shadows big enough for him.

The little girl—Trixie-slid off the bed in a movement that Kurt was _pretty_ sure demontrated only the usual human musculoskeletal system. The size of the room left about two steps between her and the new arrivals, but she managed to march determinedly the whole thirty inches or so.

And threw her arms around Todd.

He hadn't decided until then how he felt about having a sister. He'd never actually made room for the idea, after all, and a lot of his self-image was built around having effectively congealed in a moldy corner somewhere or hatched from a gooey egg. He was unclaimed, and as much as that sucked, he'd made himself around having nobody and not wanting them, either.

And really, if it hadn't been for the Wagners and Torpid, he might have pushed her back. He might have refused to come at all. He certainly didn't know if he could ever really have a sister, but it struck him that this was only half about him. He could make sure Trixie had a brother, and maybe the rest would follow. He knew how this decent human being thing was supposed to work now. In an academic sense.

"Heya, Tiny." She was a good head shorter than he was. And twelve, but he'd take a victory where he could get it. He went to pat her head and found his hand wouldn't come away. "...Huh."

"Oh, let me get that out. Sorry." She barely spoke above a whisper, her little voice piping and very solemn. "You have to get the right angle." She took hold of his hand in one of hers (not webbed, but big for such a little creature and long-fingered) and slid her hair away with the other.

"Sticky hair? Really?" And he thought he'd lost the mutant lottery.

"It's not sticky. Exactly. It's van der waals interactions. At least, that's my hypothesis." He looked down at her blankly. "Right, that's what most people say. It's not just my hair, either. See?" She leaned around him, jumped a few inches, and slapped her hand to the wall above her head. And hung there.

"...Yeah, you have super-stick."

"And you have a stupid face." She twisted her hand off with some effort and jumped down again.

"Kid's gonna be alright." He cracked an uncertain smile. "Man, they kicked you in the middle of winter for this?"

"What they actually did was explain that they were going to report that I'd run away while they were at a friend's and put my bag on the porch." Trixie paused. "Which does sound a lot like kicked me out, I guess."

"Yeah, that's definitely what that is." He sighed. "But... you're here now."

"Yes." Trixie looked over her shoulder at their mother, now sitting on the bed and looking very uncomfortable. She'd never looked at ease in her life, so that wasn't really weird. "So what now? Jasmine said you live with some other mutants?"

Todd decided not to question the use of the woman's first name. She'd always be Ma to him, but she and Trix seemed to have had a more complicated relationship. "Yeah, that's kinda a long story. But that ain't what we're gonna do with you, exactly." He swallowed, suddenly afraid this wouldn't work. It had seemed like such a good idea when it had come to him, too. "See, there's this school for people like us." He heard Kurt's sharp intake of breath behind him and carefully didn't respond. "I don't go there 'cus I ain't enough of a nerd, but I bet you could fake it."

"My glasses have duct tape on them, Todd."

"Yeah, see, you got a disguise already." This was easier than he'd expected. Talking to her, anyway. She was a smartass for a seventh grader, simplifying things, but he'd learned enough about affectionate ragging to sound like someone's vague and not too carefully explored idea of a big brother. "See Kurt over there? He's, like, the flagship geek mutant of geek mutant school."

"Give me some credit," Kurt said weakly. "Wouldn't that have to be Scott?"

"Okay, fine. He's second in command." Todd suspected that if Kurt weren't both embarrassed and disturbed, he'd have thrown something. Probably nothing heavy, though. "So he'll take you over."

"A school? Don't they need paperwork and shit?" Jasmine lit another cigarette. Given the brownish, gritty film on the No Smoking sign above the bed, she'd probably get away with it.

Todd shrugged. "I know they take runaways. This guy I know kinda just invited himself in onetime." Lance hadn't been _successful_ or anything, but Xavier seemed to have ways of smoothing the paths of his young acolytes. He wasn't worried about that part. He wasn't even really worried about Kurt agreeing to take her. Mr. Hero wasn't going to leave a kid in the lurch.

What weighed on him was the idea of Trixie on enemy ground. He could tell already that she was the smart kind of weird, but she was still a born reject. She was a little freak from incredibly fluffy hair to bright pink sneakers. There was a slim chance she'd grow into normal, aside from her physical mutations, but for now she definitely seemed like she was on the way to the Morlocks, or even the Brotherhood.

And he didn't want that. No more lost little freaks.

Having brought Lance's lousy luck with the X-dorks to mind, he could imagine now how things would go for her. He could probably get Kurt to look out for her, and Kurt could probably get Kitty and Rogue and some of the other girls in on it. But she'd still never have a chance if she was Todd Tolansky's little sister.

"You actually go by Trixie?" She raised slightly bushy eyebrows at him. He could see why that sounded like a total non sequitor. "Not Patty or nothin'?"

"Nope. Trixie."

"Todd and Trixie. I picked that out when I was, like, fifteen. It's fuckin' cute." Their mother looked younger than either of them when she pouted.

"Of course you did." He managed not to sigh. At least she had an entirely different last name, and the first name alliteration was probably a paranoid thing to worry over. It seemed natural to him, but maybe he was more his mother's son than he liked to admit. "Okay, fine. Anyway, you head over and you go ahead and tell Baldy McWheels-"

"Professor Charles Xavier," Kurt muttered.

"Yeah, that dude. Tell him what happened with your lame ass foster parents and that you heard about the school... On TV, I guess. It must of come up sometime." Considering the way the PTA had been ranting about the mutant problem? And Principal Kelly had decided to use the brotherhood's mibehavior as his own personal propaganda machine... Todd made a note to himself to key the guy's car sometime.

Trixie crossed her arms, looking up at him with a surprisingly sharp glare to get through all that glass. "Why?"

"Because it'll be easier. Trust me. This guy puts up with me 'cus one time I kicked a dude in the face to save his ass and his parents make him. Everyone else there definitely resents the perfectly good air I breathe. Get me?"

"You know, it's not like people being mean at lunch is going to be new to me."

He conceded the point readily. "Yeah, but not people you had to live with all the time. The X-men? They're pretty cool to each other, I figure, so just go ahead and make friends. Just, y'know, play by the rules a while."

"What about making friends by being yourself?"

"Yeah, that crap don't work." Poor kid. She'd learn soon enough. "C'mon."

"No." She jabbed a finger into his chest. The effect was ruined somewhat when she had to give her hand a twist to get it off again. "You've got a lot of being my brother to make up, Mister. Jasmine brought me to _you_."

Todd was about to explain that he could either offer her Wanda for a roommie or a corner of a sewer when Kurt stepped over. "You know, it's a school, not a prison. We've only got one other student your age, but I know he gets two afternoons out a week. I'll make sure this jerk spends yours with you."

"You know you're as good as your mom?" Todd asked conversationally.

Trixie frowned, considering, and gave a grudging nod. "But I still think it's stupid."

"All my ideas are stupid, but this one gets you somewhere you get a decent shot." Todd gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Then that's settled," Jasmine said, getting up from the bed and stretching a bit. "Freak school it is, huh?" She turned her gaze on Kurt. "Weren't you blue before?"

"Uh..."

She didn't wait for him. "That true? Your folks look out for this guy?"

"Ja." Kurt declined to mention how recent a development that was.

"Good. He needs it." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Okay. I better get outta here before I fuck somethin' up. Should be a last train to the City. You two." She shoved the cigarette into the corner of her mouth and crammed Todd and Trixie into a clumsy hug before they could dodge her. "You know I'm sorry I can't really be Mom, right?"

"Yeah, we know."

"Mm-hm." Trixie nodded emphatically. Todd wondered whether he should plan to ask. Ever.

"Alright, get outta here." She passed Trixie a pink duffel bag and a threadbare man's coat. Kurt had to bite his lip not to object as they filed out.

The parking lot was dead quiet and so were the three of them for the first few moments. Todd was the one to break it.

"Is it really just the super-sticking?" The way her whole hand had supported her and the weird sensation of having his hand caught let him know she didn't do what he did. Hers seemed like the worse deal, actually, and that was damn unfair.

"You make it sound limiting. I've only been doing it a few months, and I've already figured out some cool stuff to do with it." Trixie wrapped her arms around herself. The too-large coat let the cold in around her. "And no, it's not _just_."

"What else?" Most people thought of mutating as one thing, but Todd had a slightly different perspective, with his patchwork composite of tricks. The poor kid really did seem doomed to follow in his footsteps.

"Hyperdevelopment of fast-twitch musculature."

"Yeah, but say it again like I'm stupid."

"I'm really, really fast."

That could mean a lot of things, especially to a guy who roomed with Quicksilver. "Fast like how?"

"I didn't really have a way to clock myself before now. Fast like thirty, forty miles per hour? But for less than a minute at a go, definitely."

Nothing like Pietro, then, but still beyond a normal human range. "That's cool. So you can climb stuff at high speed?"

"It's tricky. I think I need more practice."

"You'll get it. Long as you don't got a six-foot tongue."

"It's only about four, but I'm still a lot shorter than you."

"...Aw, dammit." He closed his eyes a moment. "Keep that under wraps, maybe?"

"Maybe." She tried to look primly aloof, but it was hard to look down your nose at someone taller than you. "I'm gonna keep growing just to be a jerk."

He had a feeling that was about the depths of depravity she was capable of sinking to. He liked that. "You do that." They rounded a corner and Todd quickened his steps. He could see the alley that ended in the shed that hid the main entrance to the sewer. He didn't want the kid to go that fast, but he shouldn't keep her out where it was cold.

Hurrying, Todd, and ice didn't go well together. He landed very abruptly on his ass, wincing at the jar to his tailbone. "Da—darnit."

"Go ahead and swear. I just spent the day with Jasmine," Trixie pointed out as Kurt quietly hoisted him back to his feet. He barely heard her, focusing hard on not gripping the front of Blue Boy's coat and attempting to snuggle up. He'd do it to Wanda and get thrown down the service stairs to their left. He was unwilling to find out what Kurt would do, and he shouldn't be thinking about it at all with all this on his plate.

It was just that he'd _stayed_.

Saving someone from an anti-mutant mob a couple times was just X-men stuff, probably. Quietly backing someone up through excruciating personal drama meant something else, and if Todd thought about it too much, it made his brain fuzzy.

Shaking himself out of it, he brushed frozen dirt off his jeans ineffectively. Yeah, that was a fucked up tailbone alright. He'd done it so often he suspected the whole thing was weird scar tissue by now, but it'd still slow him down a couple days.

"I hate winter," he observed. "Okay, let's get this over with."

"Want me to drop you at the Boarding House?" Kurt asked. Todd noticed he now had Trixie's bag over his shoulder. In this group, he was the big guy. Ha.

"Actually? Maybe. But, like, down the block, y'know?" He wasn't in the mood to explain to anyone why he was getting out of an X-dork vehicle, and sometimes people were actually observant.

"Sure."

"Okay, one of you boys should possibly fill me in?" Trixie crossed her arms and glared up at both of them.

"It's a long story, kiddo, but basically, y'know how there's the loser lunch table an' the total reject lunch table, an' the regular nerds pick on the super nerds on account'a at least they ain't them?" Todd enjoyed the stricken look on Kurt's face a little too much, but mostly his attention was on Trixie, who nodded. "Well, then a supervillain comes an' rounds up all the total rejects an' uses 'em for minions. That's the guys I hang out with."

"Supervillain minions who are also middle school losers?"

"Yes." Todd started down the alleyway.

"And you're sending me to the only kind of nerdy table."

"The metaphor ain't perfect, yo." He was slightly pleased to find he knew what the word "metaphor" was supposed to mean. "Oh, yeah, an' the professor guy trains you on usin' powers so you can go save orphans and puppies. You get a cool codename, at least."

"For super heroics."

"Zactly." Todd nodded over his shoulder. "He's Nightcrawler. I ain't sure they told him that's what we call bait."

"Yes, but not until I was used to it." Kurt sent him an exaggerated pouty face. "And he's Toad."

Todd flipped him off. Kurt had learned long ago that that was an ineffective gesture when one only had three fingers. He preferred the British equivalent, but Todd just blinked at his backhanded V. "I'll tell you what that means when there isn't a kid around."

"Kay."

Trixie nodded to herself through their exchange, piping up once they'd settled that. "Do I get to pick my codename?"

"Man, I hope so. When I was twelve I'd prolly of gone with Jumpkick Thunderbadass."

"Gecko."

Todd raised his eyebrows. "Really now?" She was pretty determined to give herself away.

"I like Gecko."

"I'm sure the professor will take that under consideration," Kurt said with amusement. "Though there is one little issue with the plan. He's not in town. But there are still teachers to take you to see."

Todd sighed. "That gonna be a problem?"

"Not a big one. They aren't isn't going to turn her away or anything. But it might be a few days before we're all settled." He turned to Trixie as they reached the car. "And, by the way, Professor Xavier's mutation is telepathy."

"So lying to him about how I got here would be silly, wouldn't it?"

"Dammit, Crawler..." Todd took a deep breath. "S'okay. Just go ahead an' lie to everyone else."

"Go ahead and get in, Trixie. I'll put this away." Kurt walked around to the trunk. Todd followed him.

"You're gonna make sure no one picks on her, right?"

Kurt looked uncertain. "Teasing happens. Especially when she's so much younger than most of us."

"_That_ ain't a big deal, yo. You know what I mean... Like, don't let Summers in the same room with her."

"He isn't going to terrorize a twelve year old girl." Kurt wasn't quite as confident as he sounded. Scott could be a complete jerk and not even know he was doing it. He, at least, shouldn't be told who Trixie had for a brother. At least not until he'd already formed an opinion. Kurt closed up the trunk, but didn't immediately head back up. "Are you okay?"

Todd's usual apathetic deflection didn't come. "Not really, but I'll deal with that later. Once Trix is all set. At least Ma's... she was doin' pretty good. For her." He was very glad Kurt hadn't seen her on a bad day. He didn't know how he'd have handled that. Just seeing her at her best brought back a tangle of memories, most of them bleak, and having to push them to the back of his mind to deal with the kid was going to make it worse when he finally did. He thought about the stash of letters and pictures in his book safe, but he wasn't going to make them wait while he ran through half a mile of underground tunnels to grab it, and he could really use an actual bed tonight.

Kurt's hand settled on his shoulder and squeezed. He felt the two heavy fingers through gloves and leaned into the touch a little before he could stop himself. He didn't know what to make of friendly contact, but the id-driven, stupid part of him liked it. Todd made most decisions with the stupid part.

Trust an X-geek to take a hint too far in exactly the right direction. He felt Kurt's arm around his shoulders and had to swallow around a lump in his throat. "...Shit." He covered his face in his hands. "I... This is stupid, sorry, I..."

"She's never done anything but hurt you and she probably doesn't know how to care about people, but she's your mother and you need her to love you like she's supposed to."

Well, that shut him up. He looked up at Kurt disbelievingly for a second, and then it clicked. "Oh, right."

"Did I get it?"

"You cheat," he said, feeling a little better. Someone understood. A tiny bit. Having Mystique for a mother had to be almost as messed up as his issues.

"Ja. Come on, let's get you two where you're going." Kurt gave his shoulders a squeeze that turned off everything but the stupid id-brain again. Todd might or might not have murmured something in answer, but he was too busy banishing the mind-fuzz that he didn't even really get with Wanda to know for sure.


	14. Chapter 14

When he got up to the car, he saw Trixie in the front seat. She mimed firing a shotgun through the window, just to drive the point home. Violent video games and kids these days. He got in the back. "So why Gecko?"

"Huh?" Trixie looked back at him. The street lights turned her glasses into nothing but glare every few seconds, which was fun to watch.

"There's a lotta slimy green things with long tongues, right?"

"Geckos don't have long tongues. Well, not the fly-catching kind. The eyeball-licking kind, and I definitely can lick my eyeball, by the way. They have setae with nano-scale tips that allow van der waals interactions on their feet." She paused, then added, "And they aren't slimy or even usually green."

"Man, I don't get nothin' right."

"That's ok. I like you anyway."

There was a comfortable sort of silence for a few moments, but Todd found himself veering too near introspection. "Why would you lick your eyeball?" He'd just never have thought of it.

"Because geckos do it, so I figured I'd try." She considered for a moment. "But it doesn't actually do anything useful, it turns out."

That made a certain amount of sense to Todd. He'd have done it if he'd thought of it. In fact, next time he was alone he might see what happened, though fine motor control of his tongue was a bit lacking. He switched to a different, equally important train of thought. "Hey, furball, y'wanna take off your face, by the way?"

"Wait, huh?" Trixie had every right to be confused, he supposed.

"He's wearin' a thing that makes him look human. Actual facts, he's twice as funny lookin' as me."

"Ja, it's true," came the good-natured reply. Kurt waited until the next stop sign and switched off his inducer. He probably shouldn't while he was driving, but it was getting late enough that not a lot of cars were on the road.

There was silence for a moment. "...Are you a Care Bear?"

"I said that!" Todd interjected.

"I thought you said I was an _evil_ Care Bear," Kurt complained.

"You're actually fluffy," Trixie went on as if neither of them had spoken. "You're definitely fluffy. I want to pet you."

"Alright, now that's kind of weird..." Though it wasn't the _first_ time he'd gotten the request. At least she hadn't wanted to touch his tail. Possibly because she hadn't seen it yet.

"I wanna be a... Care Bear... Oh it'll be so great when I'm a... Care Bear..." She knocked off chanting the theme song off-key to giggle. Todd couldn't help but be proud. She was profoundly annoying on at least a twelfth-grade level. Now if only he didn't find that petting comment a little distracting.

"I'm a scary demon," Kurt said sulkily.

"No. You're a Care Bear."

"Gott im Himmel, it's like having a pocket-sized spare Boom-boom." Kurt chanced a glance back over his shoulder at the next stop sign. "I blame you for this."

"Man, is it my fault yer a Care Bear?" He grinned and got another of those backward peace signs he only knew for sure were rude.

"Oh, look, we're here." He could probably have taken Todd another block and a half closer to the boarding house without being spotted, but Kurt was feeling a bit ganged up on. Was it cruel of him to cut thirty seconds of teasing him out of this touching first meeting of long-lost siblings? Probably, but some sins were worth it.

Todd would have preferred staying where he was. He wasn't dumb enough to think about going to the X-palace or anything, and he wasn't even sure he could deal with either of them much longer. He'd need to find someplace still and dark to fight down pernicious memories sooner rather than later, not to mention maneuver around any others of the brotherhood who were home and worry about the kid. But the car was a comfortably in-between place. If they could have just kept driving and making fun of Kurt forever, he'd have been happy.

He sighed and jumped out. Trixie rolled down her window before he could hastily wave and hop off. "You promise we're gonna hang out soon, right?"

Todd smiled crookedly. Trixie was the easiest person to get his head around that he'd met in his life. Apparently different dads hadn't prevented their brains being broken in pretty much the same ways. She was determined to show no fear, hiding everything in a heavy layer of snotty disdain and aloof analysis, and when that broke for a second, it was pretty scary. All made sense.

He patted her shoulder instead of the top of her head this time. "I promise. An' if you don't like it there, we'll figure somethin' else, okay?" He had no idea what, of course. If he had to take her to the Brotherhood she'd run the risk of being turned into another of Magneto's footsoldiers, and if he brought her to the Morlocks, he'd probably cut off any shot at a halfway normal life right there. And either option was likely to cut him off from whichever side he didn't pick. Hopefully she'd work it out, being an X-geek.

At least he didn't have to worry about whether Kurt would look out for her. Freakin' Care Bear.

Trixie smiled nervously and got the window halfway up again when Kurt leaned over and whispered something. She nodded seriously. "Bye, Froschschenkel!"

"Ah, get outta here before your nose freezes off." He stuck his tongue out. Just the tip, which constituted about four inches. She answered in kind and closed up the car. Kurt waved over her head and pulled out into the street again.

Todd sighed and hopped up to the house in a hurry. It felt colder than when he'd gotten into the car, cold enough that he abandoned his vague idea of grabbing a smoke. It might calm him down a little, but Pietro was a huge bitch about the smell inside. Why _that_ smell out of all the components of the oppressive miasma that hung over the place was anyone's guess.

The house was mostly dark. He heard the TV and peeked in to see Freddy asleep in front of _Antiques Roadshow_. He managed a small smile for the little absurdity, but apparently he'd be denied the calming buzz of light and noise, too. Freddy did, on occasion, wake up, and Todd couldn't handle company just now. He just headed upstairs and crawled into bed.

Alone in the dark, he could finally let it go. Todd wasn't any better at holding in misery than love or bad jokes or whatever else passed for feelings in his warped little world, and when the floodgates broke, he was pretty much helpless.

Todd didn't cry. That was about the clearest indicator of weakness there was, and he'd learned very young to keep the impulse in check. Instead, when he was at his lowest, he reacted like his namesake to a predator, going limp and immobile, breathing shallowly, aiming to be so empty and quiet he just disappeared.

He'd been just shy of four when his mother abandoned him. Old enough to have some memories, dreamlike and distorted by time and a child's perspective. He only knew for sure that he'd been afraid of her, that she'd been unpredictable and entirely capable of hurting him, and that he'd trusted her every time she apologized and explained how it was his fault. She'd seen him intermittently when he was a kid. It had never gone well.

Kurt hadn't had it quite right, he realized. She did love him. But it was love that squeaked in around everything wrong with him and everything he represented for her, love shot through with so much hate and disappointment that it was worse than nothing.

He hadn't thought about it until now that he was as old as she'd been when he was born, when the guy she'd left her family for had walked out and left her with a faintly green, web-fingered baby. When no one had done anything to help a child with a child of her own. He couldn't even _blame_ her, could he? And without even anger as a defense, all he had at the moment was the knowledge that he'd ruined her life just by existing (and Trixie's shot at a stable mother) and that she cared about him despite herself.

Was a time not so long ago when he hadn't understood that someone could ask for more, that a freak who just fucked everything up might be loved-not piecemeal and begrudgingly but prehensile tail and all.

Todd decided he'd liked his cramped, hopeless view of the world. Knowing how a real family should look was like knowing what Kurt's arm around him felt like. Much better never to have loved at all.

* * *

Kurt noticed that when Todd was gone, Trixie practically shrank. He wasn't sure if she'd been taking her cues from him or his presence had emboldened her, but the teasing and the cocky attitude vanished all at once. It was just a lost little girl sitting beside him, not a second Toad.

He'd have had ample reason to feel protective of her anyway, but he was on a mission now. "You know, uh, your brother has a sense of the dramatic..." Not to mention an extensive history. "But the Institute is a great place. I mean, I look like this, and everyone's great."

"Uh-huh." She didn't exactly look convinced.

"Do you, um... Sorry, I can't tell. Is it just the eyes that give you away?"

"Man, I wish I had pointy ears. At least that looks cool."

"They are kind of useful for high frequency sounds, but I think the tips might freeze and break off one of these winters," he said sheepishly. But he preferred "cool" to "Care Bear."

"I'm pretty flexible, but I can't tell if that's a mutant thing or just that I used to do gymnastics."

That might be good, considering the danger room. "Used to?"

"Girls who do gymnastics are mean."

He wouldn't know. Actually, Kurt realized, he didn't know anything about what kids Trixie's age did for fun. His understanding of recreation as a social creature hadn't had a chance to grow until he was close to fifteen.

"I'm pretty lame for a mutant, right?" She had her chin in her hands and Kurt had a sense she'd been waiting to have this confirmed without Todd in the vicinity.

"Oh, no way. I think people with unique powers are great," he said, very honestly. Admittedly, his teleporting was a pretty cool trick, but without it working right, he was no more intimidating than Trixie. "I think about half of us just make things blow up one way or another."

"But that would be cool."

"Kind of limiting, though. I know it's hard to believe, but there are problems that can't be solved with explosions _or_ punching." He got a small laugh for that. Good. "So when we get there, I'm going to take you straight to one of the teachers, okay?"

"Well, that would make sense, right?"

"I mean, uh, we'll be taking the back door." He didn't want to say she was shy and might panic if she ran into a big group of students without a little grounding, but he was pretty sure it was true. And maybe he didn't want to explain this to anyone other than an adult whose entire job was to be even-keeled and understanding. And then she'd be the teachers' problem.

He didn't know why he felt bad about that. He was a kid himself. Todd's plan and Kurt's elaborations would actually put her in the hands of responsible people, where she should be. Not to mention it was the best that could possibly be done when a crazy woman dropped a twelve year old on a seventeen year old and considered it a job well done.

She didn't answer and he wasn't sure how to pursue the point. And he had to navigate under the overpass, where ice always seemed to build up on purpose and half the lights were generally burned out. He relaxed only when they were clear of the deathtrap and on the road to the Institute.

"Where are you from, anyway?"

"Huh?" She was harder to follow than Todd in a conversation. Maybe he just wasn't good with kids. "Oh. Germany."

"And you came all the way here, to go to this school?"

"Ja." He thought about telling her about the ways the image inducer and his fellow students had given him a real life, but he decided the facts spoke for themselves. Trixie nodded thoughtfully and he lapsed into silence for the last few minutes.

He wasn't totally sure the kid had agreed to his plan to essentially sneak her in to a teacher, but he still thought it was a good one. Storm would have been a good option, but aside from her plants upstairs, there was no set place to look for her. Wolverine would probably scare her, harmless as he was to kids, and Kurt was willing to bet he'd be on edge with the professor gone. While Scott and Jean were technically teaching nowadays, they were a big part of what he wanted to avoid. So that left Mr. McCoy, who usually ate dinner late and could almost always be found in the basement labs.

Kurt pulled into the garage and glanced around quickly. No one. "Alright, we're going to see Mr. McCoy. He's, um... Don't call him a Care Bear."

"He's furry, too?"

"He's even blue. I'm pretty sure that's just coincidence, though. He definitely has a different look than me." He hopped out and went to grab Trixie's bag. She followed him closely through the dark garage, in the door to the kitchen and hurriedly down the basement steps. During dinner was one of the few times of day he figured you could sneak through the kitchen, since everything was already out in the dining room. With a house full of constantly snacking teenagers, it was one of the epicenters of random activity.

"So... giant weird mansion makes sense for a school, but what's with this stuff?"

Kurt winced, realizing he hadn't filled her in at all. Stairs that in most houses would go down to the laundry or maybe a rec room were taking them down what looked like the set for a secret government lab in a crappy movie. "Ah, we've got some pretty cool facilities... Mr. McCoy?" He jumped the last few steps and swung around the corner to check for his teacher.

"In here," came a perfectly pleasant voice that Kurt suspected would make the sight of the man a bit more jarring for Trixie. "Did everything go alright at the drop off?" He stepped through a doorway, absently wiping out a beaker. "Oh, I see."

Trixie inhaled sharply and stiffened a little, but she kept her head admirably. Admittedly, meeting Kurt first and with her brother for backup had probably helped.

Mr. McCoy approached, but only a few slow steps. "And who is this?"

"Um, I... I'm Trixie."

Kurt decided to help out a little. "She just started showing her powers and her foster parents kicked her out," he prodded gently. That part, at least, would be common to whatever version of the story she decided to tell.

"Ah. I understand." He smiled, which was very reassuring if you knew the man but probably a little less when you were first being confronted with Beast. And were very small. Kurt wanted to do something more, but he couldn't see how. "How far did you come? Not by yourself, I hope."

"Uh, Staten Island." She went ahead and let the second question lie.

"Really? Did you hear about the Institute on TV?" He looked slightly concerned, and Kurt could see why. Keeping a low profile for the school had been a major effort of the Professor's. Aside from local politics, he'd mostly been successful in avoiding the media when it came to the Institute itself.

"No." Trixie took a deep breath, glanced quickly at Kurt, and spoke quickly. "I came to find my brother, and he said I should come here."

While she clearly meant the declaration to be meaningful, it fell a little flat. Kurt tagged in to assist again. Since she wasn't trying to keep _this_ secret for now, he didn't have to worry. "That would be Todd. Um, Toad."

Kurt had found one of the few advantages to being blue and structurally peculiar was that expressions could be hard to read. Usually he didn't care to be inscrutable and a lot of his aggressively extroverted nature came of trying to make clear what he was feeling with a not-quite-human face, but sometimes it was nice. _He_ could see surprise flicker across Mr. McCoy's face, but he was willing to bet Trixie hadn't.

"I see the resemblance now," he said smoothly. "Well, Kurt might have told you that Professor Xavier isn't here right now, but you'll be able to meet him in a day or two. For now, are you interested in dinner?"

"Yes. A lot."

"Excellent. I believe tonight's offering is chicken pot pie." To get back to the kitchen stairs, Mr. McCoy had to walk toward them. He tried to be casual about giving Trixie a wide berth, but apparently she'd already shaken her initial surprise. Kurt found himself just following with the brilliantly pink luggage again. Oh, well.

Trixie explained her powers in very precise terms on the way up, extremely pleased to find someone responding favorable to whatever it was that she said made her stick to things. By the time they actually reached the dining room, she and Mr. McCoy seemed to be fast friends.

Kurt made a note to tell Todd. He was determined to bring back a good report.

She hung back a little when they reached the door. Kurt had to admit he'd have found it a little daunting to step into the room all the noise was coming from if he hadn't been sure he knew and liked everyone inside. If she'd been her brother he'd have punched her shoulder companionably, but before he could figure out what the equivalent gesture would be, Mr. McCoy had the door open.

With the vast majority of students and most of the teachers at the table, dinner was reliably chaotic. Most people didn't even notice the door opening, and of those who glanced over, they largely missed that Kurt and Hank weren't alone. Only Logan's and Jean's eyes actually fell on Trixie, who continued to look like she'd enjoy disappearing.

Mr. McCoy had to clear his throat a few times and finally shout, "Quiet, please!" Only Beast could bellow politely. Smiling pleasantly at the suddenly silent room, he nodded to the child at his side. "This is Trixie- Sorry, last name?"

"Trixie Sandoval."

"Right, sorry. We'll call her a... presumptive new student until the professor returns. Do we have a chair open?"

"Sure, Tabby's still not here." Amara jumped up and pulled a chair out. Trixie looked around as though waiting to see who the girl was really waiting for, then walked over a little mechanically.

"Wow, you have really pretty hair," Kitty said as Trixie settled in, maybe a little too enthusiastically, but with perfectly sincere intentions. "How'd you get it to do that?"

"Um, I stood in the wind for a while?" Trixie smiled shyly.

"Maybe I should try that. I can never find that sweet spot between wavy and frizzy, you know?"

"Oh. Uh, I might be kind of cheating. Because, um, mutation... stuff..."

"Your hair has something to do with the way your mutation manifests?" Jean cocked her head to the side in a show of polite interest, though she could have just checked telepathically, of course.

"Well, it's everywhere. My hair is weaker than living tissue, actually, but I have setae all over me. The light's pretty good in here. You can see a little." She held out her hands and Sam and Roberto leaned over the table to take a look at what seemed to be a slight haze over the skin under the bright chandelier.

"What's a satay?" Jamie asked good naturedly.

"Um, a southeast Asian appetizer with peanut sauce. _Setae_ are organic bristle-like structures, and in geckos they have nano-scopic structures on the tip that allow adhesion to pretty much any surface."

Kurt watched for another minute, then went and helped himself to dinner. He took his usual chair in the corner, where his tail was free to swing contentedly while he ate without bumping into anyone.

The Xavier Institute had slightly odd dynamics when you were used to public school cliques, Kurt had been assured. All of them were rejects of a kind, even if they'd escaped home before their strangeness was known, and they were always adding new, odd foundlings. They were all X-men first, and that let pretty, popular Jean and boisterous, silly Rahne and everyone in between be friends.

Though now Kurt had to wonder why the lines were drawn where they were, why Rogue and not Lance, why so much sympathy for the silly blue demon and no real effort to help Toad correct a disastrous first impression.

Either way, everyone was lining up to make sure the new student was happy and comfortable. Even if she was a shy, scruffy kid a few years behind almost everyone in the room. He smiled to himself, shook his head to dismiss the depressing ideas, and chimed in, jumping on a bad joke by Ray with a worse one.

* * *

Todd had finally achieved abject misery nirvana. No energy to shift slightly on the bed and relieve the hip that had fallen asleep. Eyes riveted firmly on a stain on the ceiling. His mind as disjointed as when he was falling asleep, but flashing images of an ugly childhood, what a family should be like, and the sure conviction of his own worthlessness rather than the pleasant randomness that led into dreams.

He was wrested from being the platonic ideal of feeling sorry for himself by a tap on the window.

It took him a moment to gather his brain back from every poisonous little detail it had been dragging him through over and over again. He blinked owlishly and wobbled when he sat up, normal blood flow returning abruptly to his back and hip with a pins-and-needles buzz and a creak of protesting muscles. Must have been lying still like that for hours.

He wiped his eyes and stumbled to the window. The moon was bright enough to make itself known despite Bayville's middling light pollution and the silvery sheen made Kurt kind of glowy. He took a second to enjoy the effect before he pulled open the window as quietly as he could. It creaked anyway and let in a blast of cold that made him wince.

Kurt was apparently hanging entirely by his tail from the roof, which Todd wouldn't have even guessed he could do, and he looked kind of tired. In Todd's usual state of mind, the first would have been mildly interesting, the second cause for concern. Right now, he decided he liked the way Kurt's hair fell into the wind and the effect of gold glow on moonlight around his hooded eyes. This really wasn't fair. "Y'know, normal people stand on the ground an' just throw rocks."

"I think I might have given up on normal," Kurt said mildly. "I haven't decided yet. Can I come in? My tail's numb."

"Freddie might come up from the couch if he wakes up," Todd said worriedly. "Meetcha on the roof. Just a sec." He turned around, realized his coat was downstairs, decided he didn't care that much, and pulled on a hoodie from the floor instead. It didn't do a lot of good when he climbed out the window and the wind dug its claws into him immediately, unimpeded by the worn fleece. He joined Kurt to sit above the window anyway. Fixing it would require, like, three, four minutes of effort, maybe, and that was hardly worth it. "So how'd it go?"

"Just fine. She's sleeping on a cot in Storm's room until the Professor gets back and everything is all settled. The girls are already planning to take her to the mall and I think Jamie might be in love with her."

Todd pretended to bristle. "How old is that kid?"

"Thirteen as of November." Kurt bumped his shoulder playfully, though very gently. They were sitting on a steep, icy roof, after all. "She's a girl his age and she spent about fifteen minutes talking about lizards over dinner. I'm not saying she _tried_ to dazzle him. These things happen."

"Yuh-huh." Todd felt in his pockets and was glad to find his battered, stolen cigarettes. He usually only did this once a month or so (the smoke didn't agree with him much more than the smell of soap), but the shit just kept piling up and he could really use some smoothing of frayed nerves.

He watched Kurt's disapproval face out of the corner of his eye. This one also involved nose-wrinkling, and it was really damn cute. As he fought with his cheap lighter and the wind, he imagined kissing the tip of Kurt's nose, leaning into his arms where it would be warm, holding hands inside puffy coat sleeves...

Modest as the ideas were, he really wished they'd go away. This didn't happen with Wanda. It wasn't that he wouldn't have jumped at the chance for physical closeness if she'd gone (more) nuts or had a brick dropped on her head or something. He'd even kissed her the one time, thanks to the stolen image-inducer. But he didn't dwell on it this way. When he thought of Wanda, he just thought of Wanda, resplendent, untouchable, and perfect. When Blue Boy was taking up his headspace, he had ideas like this. The two of them together, kissing and touching as real, concrete things that could and should happen. And while it was a hundred times better than thinking about his mother, he'd just feel worse later. Used to be he was really good at not getting things he wanted. Something had changed.

That, and he was supposed to be thinking about Trixie. "Thank for lettin' me know, man."

"No problem. I'll try and keep you current for now. She's not sure yet when she wants you to hang out." While Kurt was comfortably unperturbed by thoughts of snuggling under the cold stars, he wasn't exactly comfortable. This had been a hell of a night. "I'm pretty sure she'll be fine," he said uncertainly, not sure how to lead in to the other reason he'd come. Maybe the main one.

"Yeah, she's tough."

"She's a lot more shy when you aren't around, actually."

"Really? Huh." Todd wasn't sure if he was more worried or flattered. He glanced at Kurt and found his brain straying off the kid sister track again. "Did you port over?"

"Ja, and I only landed a few feet from where I meant to be. I might be getting my mojo back!" He smiled a little wanly.

Mojo was a really funny word through a thick German accent. Thicker than usual. Todd had noticed that happened when Kurt was tired. He snickered. "Might need to poof back to bed before you fall off the roof, fool."

"Ja, probably." It _was_ close to midnight and he _was_ nearly keeling over from exhaustion. But he'd promised himself he'd do more than just pass along that Trixie was fine. "Are you alright?"

Todd sighed and rolled his eyes. "Is talkin' about feelings an X-geek thing? Because maybe I should of stuck Trixie in the sewers after all."

"Ew, who wants to talk about feelings?" Kurt might have been unusually sensitive and gregarious, to use Xavier's words, but he was a teenaged boy. "But you can, you know, acknowledge you have them and do something about it."

"An'... howzat different?" Todd was still scowling. Kurt looked for a better way to put it.

"It's the difference between... I know a guy named Bobby who's pretty cool versus oh god did you hear about Bobby having a girlfriend and going to a car show and blah blah blah." Todd's irritation smoothed out of his face and he seemed to consider the theory. Kurt was glad, because he was definitely making this all up on the fly.

"Ok, sure. I feel like shit, but I'll get over it like every other time. Got stuff to do, y'know?" He shrugged and the movement knocked him a few inches down the slippery roof. He didn't look like he was going to fall off, but Kurt reached out and hauled him back up anyway. At some point it had become habit to try and compensate for Todd's clumsiness for him.

"Try and don't turn into a Toad pancake?" he suggested lightly.

"Eh. Whatevs. I've gone off this roof a buncha times."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "And you don't think the best solution would be to not do that anymore?" the look he got was a bit blank. "I mean, if something sucks, isn't it better to fix it than work around it?"

"Go to bed, Crawler." Todd hopped onto the chimney and used the less icy surface to let himself back down to window level. He didn't look up at Kurt's slightly confused sounding goodbye or the momentary touch of warmth and smell of brimstone before the wind swept it all away.


	15. Chapter 15

Kurt checked his tape recorder once more for good measure, then nodded across the plastic picnic table that served as the centerpiece of the Morlocks' kitchen. "Alright, ready to go," he said with an encouraging nod.

"You're sure this won't get back to anyone?" Lucid looked warily at him.

"I can use anything you tell me, but you don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. I'll be typing this up, so it's not like anyone could recognize your voice."

"No hisssssing?" The lizard-like mutant seemed to be registering a touch of amusement, but he was hard to read.

"None." Kurt was careful to project confidence, but this was his first attempted interview outside the Institute and he was determined to get it right. So of course he had a bit of a case of nerves. "And if you let an identifying detail slip, I'll cut it."

"Fine. You can use these details, though. I was born in Arizona and my name then was David. I'll leave out the other one. This..." He paused and gestured to his elongated face with an expression Kurt thought might be chagrined. "Was less extreme when I was younger. They called it a genetic abnormality. I guess they were right."

Kurt nodded, pen scratching over his steno pad. He had a whole system worked out, letting the tape get the actual words while he kept up a notebook marked with time for every thirty seconds to write down observations. He'd tried it out on Sam, Amara, and Ororo so far and he thought he'd ironed out the wrinkles.

"It was treated as a medical issue when I was little. My parents were determined to keep up appearances, and the Valley of the Sun is a very... conformist place. I was home-schooled and only socialized with children with medical trouble. There were constant tests and doctor visits, trying to work out the effects of my so-called skull malformation, but I constantly came up healthy aside from practically having a beak. They looked into plastic surgery, but I'd pitch a fit every time they mentioned it. I didn't know what it was that made me different, but I didn't think it was wrong."

"You're braver than I am, then." Kurt didn't exactly have serious, professional reporter down yet.

"I was a surly little bastard," Lucid answered with a bit more than the usual hissing, which seemed like it might be a sign of irritation. Kurt hoped the recorder would still pick everything up okay and that he'd finish the story without being told to get lost. "But the facial elongation started getting worse... more _extreme_ when I was around ten. My parents went from keeping me in the background to practically locking me in the house. This was twenty years ago and no one knew anything about mutants. They could still call the physical problem just an unfortunate deformity, you see, but they didn't want to deal with even that.

"I have the kind of powers no one needs to know about. The story now always seems to be a kid accidentally blowing up the kitchen or throwing cars, but all I do is see through things. I was always a quiet kid. If I spent a little more of that quiet time looking at walls and floors instead of cartoons and books, who was going to notice?

"I might have gone on like that forever, or at least until mutants were outed to the public. If it hadn't been for Facade, I think I would either still be in the guest room with the windows covered up or I'd have taken a handful of sleeping pills. Not a lot of difference, you know. It wasn't really a life either way." Kurt's jaw tightened a little at that, but he was learning to just accept the things people felt the need to tell him. He was a conduit for the stories; that was it. Honesty was what he wanted.

"He was a few years older than me, already a runaway. He couldn't hide his powers when they first started up. He popped in and out of sight all the time, and his parents couldn't handle the idea. He left them and found people willing to look past the weirdness in pursuit of profit. Meaning they sent him to case the house. My parents had some money. Not the world shaking kind, but you could tell by looking at the place. They were out that night and I gave myself a treat. Falling asleep on the couch where there was a window and people could see me.

"I can see him when he's cloaked. Not clearly, but I get an outline. That happens sometimes, that one mutant's power counters another one's. He was furious, but I was just excited. I think he thought I was nuts until I turned on the light and he got a look.

"Like I said, almost twenty years ago. There were fewer mutants, and nobody had a word for it. We probably wouldn't have figured out we were the same kind of freak if we hadn't had just the right powers. I helped him clean out cash and small valuables and we both left that night.

"Facade... Well, he's over there. You can see he has no problem passing for human as long as you can see him. We had some close calls when he lost control in the early days. I think there's still a truck stop in New Mexico that's supposed to be haunted by a lizard ghost, so you can see they got the story a little scrambled. Nonetheless, we couldn't always hide and neither of us could really work, legitimately or otherwise.

"There were two big problems. We ran away, but we had nowhere to run _to_, and all of a sudden we had something to lose. We were a couple of naïve kids, me even more than him, and we'd got our hands on an idea as much as anything else. We could get good at dumpster diving and finding a place to hide during the day. We did just that. But we had nowhere we were going, and even knowing you aren't the only strange one in the world can't keep your spirits up forever.

"I was about seventeen when we almost had our journey to nowhere ended prematurely. We'd been moving northeast whenever we moved. No particular reason except we started southwest and neither of us wanted to go home. We'd gone over the boarder for no real reason. We didn't seem to belong to anywhere, so national boundaries didn't signify much.

"The whole mess was my fault. I'd been in the little brother's role for years, and I was a sheltered shrimp, so it made sense. But I was starting to feel useless and overshadowed and inclined to do the kind of things insecure teenagers do..." He trailed off and blinked at Kurt a few times.

"No offense taken." Kurt did feel a little silly, but he was mostly inured to comments about dumb kids and their music.

"Right. Well, Facade had his powers under control by then, and he'd usually be out and working during the day. Nobody thought that was strange, a Mexican kid taking odd jobs that didn't ask a lot of questions, and it brought in enough money for food and clothes, usually. I couldn't do that, of course. Even if I could get people to think it was just a deformity—and even if there was no official word on mutants, there were starting to be rumors, so no guarantee—I couldn't deal with them. So I'd wait until he'd gone to sleep and sneak out of whatever abandoned building we were using to hide out, but all I could think of to do was look for things to steal.

"We'd had that idea before, of course. It was how we'd met and it did seem natural, given our powers. But it wasn't as if either of us had any idea how to fence stolen goods or what we'd do if we did have extra money. Settling down didn't seem to be an option. All we'd have had open to us would have been lousy apartments and someone would have gotten a look at me sooner or later. Not much point. It's what I went out to do, but only because I didn't have a better idea.

"But being able to find things is only half the battle. I can see through walls, through any kind of cloaking, outside the visual spectrum for normal people... But I'm still short and clumsy. It's only a surprise it took three times out for me to get arrested.

"The local police had no idea what to make of me, and I decided to just keep my mouth shut. It wasn't comfortable, but I was hoping they'd decide I was just a crazy genetic freak and let their guard down enough that I could bolt somehow. But I'd only been in a holding cell for a few hours when this woman arrived. I never got a name. By design, I'm sure.

"What she had to say was amazing at first. She gave me a name for what I and my blood-brother were and the program she talked about was nothing I'd ever dreamed of. Mutants using their gifts to a purpose. She was very vague about what that purpose was, but it didn't bother me. I wasn't much of a deep thinker. What made me start to wonder was her attitude after I explained my friend's power. All of a sudden she only wanted to hear about him.

"It's not like I realized anything clever, like that Facade's power is a lot more useful when you want to destroy things than mine is and she'd already seen I was a short guy who fell over my own feet. It's that she clearly was much more excited about him than me, without having met either of us. I couldn't have articulated it at the time, but if she wanted one mutant more than another, then it was the mutations and not us that had value. Just because she wanted our powers a lot and the rest of the world wanted our powers not at all didn't make a difference. We'd just be things all the same.

"So I clammed up, which was about all I could do right then. She must have been able to tell she'd gone wrong and she knocked off the motivational speaker routine. She told me she needed to cuff me so as not to rouse suspicion when she took me out of the station. At least I was bright enough not to buy that.

"Lucky for me, Facade had figured out what happened and was watching. He waited until I was almost in her spooky limo with blacked out windows and grabbed me. He's actually bright, you know, unlike me. He'd pried open a manhole while I was sitting in my cell and we jumped down before she could get the commandos in terrifying uniforms out of the car. We stuck around long enough for me to see that—and give myself a headache, looking through that much concrete and at night—and bolted.

"It's a wonder we didn't drown or break our necks, especially with me still in handcuffs. But Facade's hard to find if you're not me. He doesn't even show up on infrared. And I, well, I was small and not too proud to hide in sewage whenever they got too close. We still probably wouldn't have gotten away if not for Cybelle.

"She was just a kid at the time, not much older than Torpid is now. But she'd already manifested her powers and been thrown out of her home. She got my cuffs off and took us out of the sewers and into a half-finished tunnel that had been forgotten about. Facade was almost too big to get in past the rubble, and huge guys with weapons certainly weren't going to do it.

"Cybelle was the only one left down there when we met her, but there'd been other mutants before. Pretty much the proto-Morlocks, and how we eventually got the idea to settle here. They'd told that awful woman to bug off, and then they'd all been rounded up with extreme prejudice. Cybelle melted her restraints and whoever was in charge got her to run.

"So we knew the sewers weren't safe, but there was nowhere else to hide that was better. And all of a sudden, we had a ten-year-old girl to look after, too. At least I could babysit. We left that night and got out of Canada as fast as we could. Saw Niagara Falls on the way, even. I'm not sure how we managed not to be caught. Maybe a bunch of kids weren't really worth it.

"Callisto found us in Buffalo. She was already with Caliban. You can ask her about that story. We moved around a lot in the first year or two. I think she settled on Bayville because it's big enough to be anonymous but back then, it wasn't on anyone's radar. Just a boring little city. You'd have to ask her if she knew anything about Xavier or plans for a school.

"We've been working on the place since, adding whoever Caliban found who seemed to need us. It's not very interesting, a bunch of people being hungry and stealing construction materials to try and make the sewers seem a little less like sewers. Some of our strays have moved on, like Berserker, and some of them seem as permanent as the walls. I wouldn't be surprised if Scaleface was here forever, but there's no reason she has to be. ...Is that what you were looking for?"

"I'm looking for all the stories I can find," Kurt said simply. "And that's a good one. And like I said, I'll pull identifying details and names, and otherwise I'll transcribe it all in your words."

"And it goes on the internet." There was nothing much to hiss over in the word, but Lucid still said it strangely, like he didn't quite see how it should sit on his tongue. "And then what?"

"Then people read it, we hope. And, uh, with luck fewer of them will send violent hatemail as time goes on." So far, much more of the response had been _die mutie scum_ than _thank you for sharing and you've changed my mind_. He still had hope, though. "Anyway, thanks a lot. I'd better get going, though." He was about to say something about his history test in the morning, but after hearing all about Lucid-who-had-been-David and the life he hadn't had, it sounded mocking in his head. "Um, is Todd around?"

"Back in his room."

"Danke." He'd have explained that his mother would be annoyed if he didn't check on the guy, but it would be cruel to bring up. And it wasn't like poking Todd was a hardship or anything. He'd just fill his friend in on Trixie (who didn't actually do very much day to day, but that kind of counted as news) and catch up a little before he headed back.

* * *

Todd balanced on a heavy tree branch, squinting into the thin winter sun as he waited for his sister. He was turning into a real Morlock lately. Being out like this in the middle of the day made him nervier than it had before, but it wasn't like he should meet a twelve-year-old after dark.

He grinned when she rounded a corner and jumped down to intercept her. He was a little nervous to see her during daylight hours and without a set endpoint, but he'd figure it out. Worst it could be was awkward, right?

It helped his mood a lot when she broke into a run when she saw him and stopped just short of running straight into him. As she grinned up at him, he gratefully noted she was dressed properly now. A little oddly, even to his eye, but in new, warm clothes. Still had the taped-over, too-large glasses, but baby steps. He'd only left her with Kurt a week before.

"Howsit, kiddo?"

"Pretty good. I started school three days ago, and Jamie's in most of my classes. I think the professor kind of wanted us to back each other up. I got to try out the danger room, too, and I have a uniform. And Kitty and Rogue took me to the mall." That explained the juxtaposition of fluffy pink boots and coat with the skull print hat and poison-green plaid skirt. He was a little surprised that he knew even that much about fashion, but it was pretty funny. "Mr. McCoy is ordering me new glasses. I picked purple ones. I've got a diorama project to do about the solar system. Oh, and I'm barely even the new kid because Augie started the same time as me. He's pretty nice. He absorbs heat and turns it into energy... blobs. That blow up. We're hoping he'll get the hang of it soon."

Todd jumped in when she paused for breath. "That everything?"

"That was the outline. I hope you're taking notes." She either had a perfect poker face or she was a little screwier than he'd anticipated. "What's up with you?"

"Riggin' the electricity in Morlock-ville. Almost done with the basics. Gonna see if I can get the alarm system up next, I guess. Wire it right in there." How was it that even around a child he felt like he wasn't accomplishing anything? Especially given he'd done more accomplishing in the last week and some than he had in... all his life.

"Cool. Kurt told me about them. You, I guess. I'm gonna see if I can go on supply deliveries. Because he said there's a little kid down there, right? That sounds kind of lonely, but I figure most of the other students are way older than her, right?"

A pause. He figured he'd better get good at jumping on those. "That'd be nice. Torpid doesn't talk... Maybe she can't? I'm not sure. But she's definitely kinda lonely."

"Cool. I'll do that, then. Where're we going?"

"Uh, figured we'd head down to Millpond."

"There's a mill?"

"Nah, never was. There was gonna be a condo with a stupid name like Millpond there, so they dammed up a little stream off the river for a pretty pond, an' then the project fell through. No one bought it up after, either, so there's just the pond. It's pretty." He watched her reaction a little nervously. He had some hope that being a city kid would make her curious about even an iced-over little hole in the ground, but it was a pretty lame location. He liked it, but he was always broke and he liked quiet spots with water. He'd thought about lifting a wallet or two and taking her to a movie or something, but there was always the possibility of her asking about where the money came from.

So far, Todd hadn't been moved by the novel experience of being valued to actually _change_ his ways, but he had learned to hide them a little.

"That sounds nifty." Trixie shoved her hands in her pockets and fell into step beside him, swinging a teddy bear backpack. "Do do you not go to school anymore?"

Why did he suspect she wouldn't bite her tongue where Kurt had? "Nope. Looks like I kinda quit, there. And I might still be kicked out anyway."

"That's dumb."

"No, I'm dumb. That's the thing, there. Don't need a diploma to fix cars an' set up alarms underground."

"If you were dumb, you wouldn't be able to do those things."

"I got a rule against logic, princess."

"Right, I'll make a note of it." She hopped over an unshoveled patch of sidewalk. "So you're a Morlock and you're in the Brotherhood?"

He looked at her nervously. "What do you know about the Brotherhood, anyway?"

"Not a lot that's useful. Rahne told me that Kitty's dating a boy in the Brotherhood, and there's you and Kurt, and this girl Wanda was talking to Rogue while we were in line at Orange Julius."

"You met Wanda, huh? How would you feel about her for a sister-in-law?" Todd enjoyed leering for a moment. He didn't feel like he'd done enough of it lately.

"You're gross."

"You're twelve."

"You're trying to change the subject." She stuck her tongue out at him. Since they were out in public and he'd gone so far as to try to walk normally, he was glad she kept it to just a couple inches. "So it seems like the X-men and the Brotherhood are mostly friends with each other in person but are kind of theoretical enemies?"

"Huh." That was one way to put it. "Well, end of last summer-ish, we all kinda saved the world. I mean, us guys just kinda helped out. We got to steal a jet, which was cool. So the enemy stuff is calmed down."

"That's stupid, then. If you're just the wolf and the sheepdog in the Loony Toons, then how come, like... Scott gets all growly about it?"

He hoped she hadn't just been surveying everyone about their Brotherhood-related opinions. "'Cus he's Summers."

"He is kind of a butt," Trixie agreed. Todd snorted. She said absolutely everything in that serious little voice and it was pretty awesome. "But he's also helping me with the glasses thing. Since my uniform goggles stay on fine and I actually see out of them better than these. They're up to date. But they're pretty... X-men looking. And even my new glasses are going to be heavy, so they'll fall off if I have to change orientation and don't have time to switch out. But, y'know, Scott knows how much of a pain glasses can be, even if his make it harder to see." She was kind of a blathering machine, wasn't she? Todd poked her shoulder to turn her down the side street that led to Millpond.

"So he got me a lanyard. You can't see it because of my hat. But it goes pretty tight. The first time I was in the danger room my goggles weren't made yet, and my glasses came off before I'd gotten anywhere on the ceiling. Jean caught them, so they aren't smashed, but I bumped into Amara on the way down. And I don't mean like shoulder tap. I kind of went straight into her, and I was going fast so I could get my glasses back. So she kind of went whoosh a few feet and banged into Jamie, so there were a million Jamies."

She had to breathe in and he took his chance. "Did they all have a crush on you?"

"Ew, I hope not. Did Kurt tell you that? He's probably wrong. He better be wrong. Jamie's nice and he's good at model rockets but I don't like boys."

_What is our family tree, a queerberry bush?_ Todd wondered absently.

"Anyways, a million Jamies. Or six. One of those. So Jean calls it and we haven't even started the simulation yet. And we had to wax Mr. Logan's bike instead."

"How'd that go?"

"Wax is no match for me, turns out, so I'm not supposed to touch the bike anymore. Even after I proved there isn't any sticky residue or anything. So he's all," she dropped her voice as low as it would go. "Can't blame me, little bub. Had reason to expect otherwise." Trixie's tones popped back up to their normal, chipmunk-ish register. "So he totally knows. And I didn't tell him and I don't think Kurt did, so I guess he just smelled me or something. And we did tell Mr. McCoy and Professor Xavier and Ms. Munroe, because not doing that would be stupid, and probably Jean know because she's a telepath."

"That everybody?" Todd asked with a sullen scowl.

"I think probably. But I still think it's a dumb plan, because when they do find out I'll have to explain why I didn't tell, and that's just gonna happen sometime, y'know?"

"Here we are," he said in tones of obvious relief. He didn't just mean to give Trixie a hand socially by disavowing her, he realized. He meant for her to have the option to just leave him out permanently if it was better for her. She'd figure out sooner or later that it was.

He hopped the chest-high chain link fence beside the vacant lot without much effort. Trixie took the time to climb over the normal way, and to his curious look, explained, "It's cold and this isn't very tall. I'm not taking my gloves and boots off for that."

"So yours needs skin contact?"

"Yup. I'll show you my uniform soon. I get to be barefoot."

"Huh. Well, makes sense, unless you maybe used yer hair as a grappling hook." He had noticed it was in one braid now rather than fluffing out in all possible directions.

"I have this idea that I got from a book about lady samurai. Because, see, they would put weights in their hair and use it like a flail if there was an attack in court. They had all kinds of weird disguised weapons, actually, but I bet a heavy barrette is easier to get away with than a razor-fan. If I can get that down I can totally grab people with my hair."

"...But then you'd have people stuck in your hair," he commented, reaching up and lifting her down the last few feet. It seemed unfair that she have to go up and down things the normal way and she seemed to weigh about three pounds.

"Yeah, that's what preliminary data suggests. The only time I got it to work I found out that Mr. Logan can lift me with one arm and not notice he's got me until I squeak. But I'm sure there's a solution in there somewhere."

"Tie rocks to your belt?"

He was kidding, but she nodded. "Ballast is an option!"

Todd quietly rolled his eyes. The dam that created the pond resulted in a lot of convoluted drainage engineering, the most convenient artifact of which was a big block of concrete that he assumed reinforced pipes below. For now, he just wiped snow off with one foot and sat down. "So it sounds like you're doin' pretty good."

"Yup. Oh, I brought us something." Trixie settled down and opened the teddy bear bag in her lap. It seemed kind of morbid to Todd, unzipping a toy like that. Made it seem like less of a sigil of childhood wonder and more of a grisly trophy for the littlest big game hunter. "You know how people are all weird about eating bugs?" she asked in her usual, perfectly neutral tones.

"You... Of course you do that." Maybe he should just give up and invite her to a Morlock party now.

"Mmm. Well, I did, but then I figured out that people who go nuts over one little cockroach—which are totally clean animals, by the way—think you're fancy and refined if you only eat bugs that come out of the water." She extracted a bag of shrimp with a grin almost wide enough to be her brother's.

"Kid, you're alright," he said, grabbing a handful and leaning back to watch the sun hit the ice.


	16. Chapter 16

"So what am I supposed to say to your little friend?" Callisto asked, nudging the tape recorder in what seemed to be a challenge of sorts. Kurt had to assume it was for him, since it was hard to challenge a small piece of plastic.

"Whatever you want. Some people just tell me a story or two; some of them lay out their whole lives..." He shrugged, trying to get used to the mild sense of being a not-too-impressive rodent that came of being around her.

"What did you get from Lucid and Cybelle?" She propped her chin in one hand, turning her head in a way that probably just let her get the best view of him with one eye but always evoked a lion sizing up a gazelle.

"Lucid told me about traveling with Facade and meeting you and those people who wanted to recruit mutants for... something."

"I'm pretty sure, since I've had a few chances to talk to Logan, that they had something to do with Hydra and Weapon X. But you'll leave that out, of course."

She was testing him. Maybe. "Along with everything sensitive and identifying. And the professor goes over everything before it gets posted, too."

"Alright. And Cybelle?"

He didn't want her to try to compare what she wanted to say with what the others had given him, but he didn't have it in him to refuse the woman. "She told me about what happened to the first group she lived with and building the Morlocks' space down here. ...Lots of identifying details. I took them all out."

"Alright, alright, elf, I trust you." She really had been talking to Logan. Kurt turned on the recorder. "Here's a story not many people know. You ever wonder why I live down here? I could pass for normal without a problem. Hell, I'm just about pretty from the left. And it's not like Facade. He's too shy to buy milk and is a lot more devoted to his little adoptive siblings than living out in the human world. I'm the one who started rounding people up.

"I was a totally normal kid. No sob story there. Dad was a roofer, mom delivered mail. We had a little house and a dog. I'm older than I look, by the way. Seems to happen to a lot of mutants. Aging slow, healing fast. So we're talking about days of long-haired kids on TV asking for peace and getting their heads bashed in for their trouble. Weird time to grow up. I'd have had plenty of problems anyway, I bet.

"But there I was, all of a sudden, thirteen years old, and my head suddenly felt about to split open. I went home from school and stayed there a week with what seemed like the most constant early-onset hell-migraine anyone had ever seen. After that first nightmare... Well, it didn't go away. And it wasn't just a headache anymore. I could hear cars start up two blocks away and raindrops hitting the pavement outside my window like I used to hear construction and fireworks. Almost any light was overpowering. I started tying a scarf around my head because too much would get by sunglasses, but that was almost as maddening because I could see every tiny thread. I could only wear old nightgowns because everything with any texture at all hurt to touch. If I wasn't standing totally straight I got dizzy, and falling down was total agony. Tepid water and oatmeal were about all I could handle and there was no kind of shelter from the way every damn thing in the world smelled.

"So I went nuts. Anyone would go nuts. A teenager with no choice but to sit in a dark room and sob all day, and even crying itched and lying down made me woozy. I got it in my head to end it all, and I couldn't stand to talk to my parents about the weather, let alone the fact that I was going totally insane. They must have known I'd just about lost it, but they didn't know what to do.

"I sneaked out at night because leaving during the day would have been impossible. I wasn't that creative so I figured I'd jump in front of a car. Guess I thought my parents would have an easier time getting over that. But I lived on a little suburban street in New Jersey. There wasn't a lot of traffic at four in the morning.

"There was so little light and wind that I was almost comfortable, and the smell of grass wasn't nearly as horrible as dust and human bodies. I almost went back inside, but this cricket started up. No idea where it was, but every little chirp felt like the business end of a hacksaw smashing into my skull. I tried to find it, fell, felt every blade of grass and bump of dirt like it was stabbing me, and just _then_ I got a car going by.

"So I ran straight in front of it, and that's the last thing I knew until 1975.

"Listen close, because this is the only time you'll hear this sentiment. A two year coma was exactly what I needed. The brain injury slowed down my mutation. Muted it right back down. My senses were still better than a normal person's when I woke up, but in a way I could actually cope with. They started to come back while I did my physical therapy, but slow enough that I could learn to deal, and so that I could sort of turn them on and off. That's how it is now. Give me a second to concentrate and I'll tell you how many rats are nesting down that tunnel, but I don't hear them now.

"That's where the eye went, before you ask. Most of the damage healed up just fine but there was a little too much headlight in the socket to get anything out of it but goop, and the orbit was cracked. There's still a little bit of a dent here.

"I don't really blame my parents for not being able to deal with me. Here they'd gone from having an annoying but normal kid to an insane invalid a few months later, and then an attempted suicide, two years unconscious and another convalescing... Can't really fault them for not having a lot to say to me anymore. They worried, but they didn't really have any plans or a sense of what to do with me, and I still mostly had that thirteen-year-old's brain. Wasn't exactly planning for college.

"So I didn't go back to school. Not with years of catch-up to do on stuff I'd never cared about a lot anyway. I got a job at a grocery store and spent the nights trying to find trouble to get into. I was supposed to be a crazy delinquent, after all. But clubs were a headache, boys annoyed me, and drugs just made it hard to keep my focus and not start the whole world hammering me to pieces again. Couldn't really figure out my niche for degeneracy, I guess.

"But I'm sure I'd have found some way to turn my life into nothing but quiet desperation with really good ears eventually. Instead, I found Caliban one night while I was looking around for some vice I hadn't through of yet. There were a couple punks harassing him, probably more than I could have taken at eighteen, but having an eyepatch makes you look like a desperate character even if you're a skinny bitch in an avocado jumpsuit. ...Don't give me that look. It was the seventies and I hadn't figured out punk yet.

"So they got lost when I told them to. Caliban was just a kid, but he was born looking that way. He creeped his parents right the hell out and his mom kicked him out after his dad died and couldn't be the voice of reason anymore. He doesn't mind people knowing, by the way, so don't worry. He just hates talking.

"He knew what I was just by looking, and I guess I had a soft spot for strays already, being one myself. I brought him back to my little hole in the wall apartment and looked after him a little while, but the neighbors noticed. You've heard the rest, pretty much. He and I went off on our own, following his power to other mutants. The X-gene just about killed me and it lost him everything. You can call it a gift, and it even feels like one most days, but there'll always be a lot more mutants who need someplace solid to hide than who can fit in and be heroes."

She just stopped talking, and after a moment Kurt figured she was done. "Alright. That was really good... I mean, for the page. Since the point if for mutants to have stories to relate to, I mean, not good that it happened. Um..."

He was saved from blathering more when a shrill, keening sound burst from a cardboard box beside the table.

"What just happened?"

"Todd's working on the alarms. ...Go tell him not to do that again."

Grateful for both the escape route and the prompt, he nodded, shoved the tape recorder and notebook in his bag, and made a break for it.

* * *

Todd had only come back to the boarding house to check on things and see if he had any cash he'd forgotten about stowed in his mattress (there wasn't), but the lure of a radiator that was mostly working and a bed with an actual mattress had convinced him to stay. Might as well use it until Pietro told him to just get lost, right?

Only he'd come in around five in the morning, because living underground left him with no real sense of time. And when the curtains had let sunlight in, he'd closed them with his tongue, because bed was comfy. It was about two when he finally hauled himself to his feet and headed down, figuring he might watch TV for a little while before he descended back to the depths to hear Callisto's latest criticisms of his wiring work.

He heard Freddie's voice in the kitchen and immediately rerouted. He missed dancing attendance on Wanda and he actually did sort of prefer life with Pietro and Lance in it, but he really felt bad about not seeing Dukes much. They'd always been freaks of a feather, even if they also tormented each other out of boredom and could go days without speaking. There was companionability in watching too much TV and the slime and household objects version of skeet shooting they'd perfected for warm afternoons.

"No way. Boo Berry's better." A weird argument for even Dukes to get into, but hey.

But then came a voice that made him cringe. "Nuh-uh! If Boo Berry were better you could get it all year. You can get Count Chocula whenever you want because it's the best. That's how market science works. And there's a marshmallow kind."

Todd hopped hurriedly to the kitchen. His sister was standing on the table to bring herself to eye-level with Dukes, hands on her hips and jaw jutting out determinedly. Some part of him noted with amusement that her wardrobe still seemed to have some kind of split personality problem and she was wearing a sparkly cardigan over a black and red sailor dress.

He glanced around hurriedly, then tried to play it cool. If Freddie was the only one around, this was probably okay. The guy was a straightforward thinker and he wouldn't know an ulterior motive if it bit him in the humongous ass. He tended to accept things as they came. "Hey, kiddo, ain't you supposed to be in school?"

"There you are." She turned, but rather than jumping off the table, she jumped up and slapped her palms into the ceiling to dangle there. "Figured I'd let you sleep all day if you _really_ wanted. We lost power at the school. I guess enough ice built up on the lines, and since it's a Friday and all they let us go. And I figured if I go back I'll jut have to do some extra danger room or something. So Ms. Munroe came to pick us up and I asked if I could come bug you and she said ok, but I have to be home by five like usual on Fridays. Boo Berry or Count Chocula?"

"Frankenberry," he said automatically. "Don't move around too much on that ceilin', Trix. There's a spot where Lance blew up spaghetti-o's with a pressure cooker an' we didn't clean and... Long story short, we're pretty sure that mold has a brain now."

"This whole house makes my nose itch." She twisted her hands and landed back on the table.

"How come you never said you had a sister, anyway?" Freddie asked thoughtfully.

"We actually didn't know each other," Trixie explained for him. "Different dads and crazy mom and stuff, but then I was all, hey, I'm a mutant, too! So I needed somewhere to go and he seemed like the best bet. And now I'm here. And anyway, Toddie, I have until five if you wanna go back to Millpond and throw rocks at icicles some more."

"It's cold as a bi—witch, Trix."

"How cold is that, exactly?" came a quiet voice from the hallway.

Todd spun around in a panic, but habit won out. "Babycakes!"

"Hi, Wanda."

"Hello, Trixie. I liked Fred's question, but here's mine. Why is your sister an X-man? Toddie?"

"Aw, beautiful, it hurts so good." He actually was kind of touched that she was bothering with personal mockery. There was something very wrong with him.

"Answer. Now."

She'd had to say it in front of Dukes. It took a lot to make him curious, but that'd pretty much do it. And the answer was complicated, but he had a pretty good guess at the one that would work. "'Cus I didn't want Magneto to get to her."

Wanda's expression didn't change, but she nodded. "Did your pet German help with that?"

"You're so smart, my crimson enchantress."

"That was almost clever. ...Almost." She took a soda from the fridge with the most pointed indifference he'd ever seen. If she had to talk to him, apparently, she'd have to make it clear she absolutely didn't care about any of the proceedings. "What a brother ought to do, I suppose. Speaking of which, mine will be home soon. You might want to get going."

He blew an extravagant kiss and could swear she dodged a little. It might have just been a twitch of barely restrained rage, though. "I should have known you'd cover for me, sweetch—Ow!"

Being injured while hitting on Wanda was nothing new, but she hadn't done it. Though she did look amused. He looked down to see what had smacked the side of his head. A spoon was on the floor, and Trixie was pulling her tongue back into her mouth. "Knock that off, Todd." She actually looked angry, so he couldn't admire the move.

"Huh?" He was honestly a little lost.

"That's not cute. It's skeevy and annoying, even if she can beat you up. Say you're sorry." She nodded significantly at Wanda, who looked impressed.

Alright, then? "Sorry."

"Okay. We can go now. Bye, Freddie. Bye, Wanda." Trixie jumped off the table and picked her coat up off a chair, headed for the door.

Todd was eager to beat a fast retreat, very glad that Pietro hadn't been anywhere near the house. He was so wound up in that that he almost forgot to follow up on Trixie's attack of righteous indignation. But she was still scowling as they got to the block or so away that he considered mostly safe. "So, ah, what was that about?"

"You were being a jerk."

"Well, yeah, I guess, but just like usual. I mean, ain't like she won't throw me out a window if I get on her nerves too much."

"That's not the point. If someone tells you to bug off, you should."

Something about the tone of voice tipped him off. "Boys at school, huh?"

"My old school. The ones here are pretty busy with the mutant thing. But they pick on mutants because they're scared. They pick on girls because they want _us_ to be scared. I know you like Wanda for real but it comes out being the same stupid thing."

"Okay. Won't do it anymore." If he could help it. This was probably his first big concession to having a family, he realized, which was both lame and pretty cool of him.

"Good." They went a few steps in silence. "You behave yourself with Kurt, right?"

He thought about protesting, then just sighed. "That obvious?"

"Maybe probably yes? I just figured it out now, though. When you weren't being a creepazoid to Wanda, you just had a the same face on like you were hugging a koala. But thanks for confirming my hypothesis."

That would probably do it. "I might not have a whole lotta experience, but I'm pretty sure you're a weird kid."

"I don't know why that should be. As far as I can tell, I'll be doing this stuff in a couple years. Might as well start up my observations now so I have a good baseline for when I get older. Are you usually supposed to have a crush on two people at once?"

"Is the whole world just, like, a nature show to you?" Todd asked as pleasantly as he could manage.

"No, then David Attenborough would be here to tell me about the mating habits of mutated teenagers. That would be much cooler."

"Uh-huh."

"I mean _David Attenborough_ would be cool. I haven't proved it yet, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure all this dating stuff is really stupid."

"So... new glasses?"


	17. Chapter 17

Trixie was home by a quarter to five and Todd trudged exhaustedly to the nearest reliable sewer entry point. He had only been awake for a few hours, but he was feeling the weight of the world anyway. The kid was a real energy drain and he had to worry about Wanda letting something slip or Freddie... just going ahead and blabbing. He didn't know quite what happened then. He could be pretty sure that Wheels could keep Magneto away from Trixie, but what happened to him? Best case scenario was full-time Morlock, and he didn't quite want that yet.

It was only recently that he'd let himself be aware of degrees and kinds of desires. Since it led down a disgusting road of experiencing both hope and disappointment, he wished he hadn't started again.

Maybe Magneto would accept being thwarted graciously and Pietro wouldn't take the challenge to his daddy issues personally.

Ha.

He also had to worry about the fact that he hadn't gotten anywhere on his work down here all day. Callisto wouldn't be happy. He hopped guiltily along the tunnels, pausing when he heard voices ahead. While he was at least okay by everyone else, he still found it prudent to avoid Evan. But no, he only heard Scaleface, which was slightly odd. She didn't usually say a lot, certainly not all at one time.

But then she stopped and he heard an increasingly familiar click. "Danke."

"It wasn't too short?"

"It's the story you wanted to tell. That's what I'm here for."

"If you're sure. I'll try to think of something else if you need me to."

"Don't worry about it. But, well, let me know if you do." Kurt stood up as Todd entered the central room. Scaleface was already melting away. "Oh, there you are. Cybelle said you weren't here."

"Just in. Took Trixie out for a little bit." He stood up and smirked. "You ever go home, fool? I think you been down here every night this week."

"Not Wednesday. I had a paper due. Want to hear about the Lady of Shalott?"

He didn't know what that was. "No."

"Neither do I, ever again." He rolled his eyes, which was hard to tell without his inducer on. Todd had gotten pretty good at following the light suggestion of pupils in amid the golden glow. "My thesis statement is that Victorians had such a death fetish they built a whole stupid story about a lady in a tower so they could kill her at the end."

"Freaky," Todd said, because that was nerd-speak again and he didn't get most of it. "Okay, so almost every day. Plus X-geek stuff an' homework, I bet."

"And translations of press releases for the professor. And Buffy. I don't sleep anymore. It's stupid." He grinned toothily and Todd was a little afraid he wasn't joking.

"Y'wanna not sleep here for a while? Since it's Friday an' yah prolly won't die."

"Sure." He followed Todd to the now almost comfortable little alcove. He fussed with his bookbag a little, looking like he was just poking at his journalism kit, but then extracted a couple beers.

"Wow, X-geek." Todd wasn't sure if he was impressed or horrified.

"For the record? A guy who thinks motorcycle races with teenagers are ok doesn't care a lot about someone who's been drinking for three years already having a beer. So thank Logan next time you see him, as long as there aren't any other adults around." He popped the bottles with the opener held in his tail. "I figured we could both stand to unwind."

Yes, he could. But unwinding around someone who made him have a face like he was hugging a koala? Maybe not a great idea. He took the bottle anyway. "So how's the whole spunky reporter thing goin'?"

"I hear I have moxie and legs that won't quit." Kurt let a few beats go by while Todd refused to dignify that with an answer. "Really good. I mean, we're still getting mostly misspelled threats for feedback, but that's why Professor Xavier checks everything before it goes up and had Forge do our security. If it helps just one person it's worth it, right?" Kurt wasn't completely sure that would happen. Some of the nastiness was getting to him, especially given the number of remarks that involved condemnations and threatening of family members and mentions of fires. Sure, those were just random threats and statistically there'd have to be a few that bugged him, but it was still a great way to make himself anxious and uncomfortable.

"Well, good, I guess?"

He seemed to be boring Todd. Which was fair. His idea was weird. "Well, I think I got all I could from the Morlocks for now. Facade and Caliban don't like talking. Maybe Torpid could draw some pictures."

"Prolly."

"Or..." Oh, he had to ask. "Wanna do one?"

"No."

"Come on."

"I heard you. You told everyone else it was voluntary an' they could say whatever they want."

"But I don't know them well enough to twist their arms..." Kurt tried to smile winningly. It was hard to do with fangs.

But easy to do if you were someone's huggable koala. Todd sighed. "Fine." Then grinned. "But. You gotta do it, too."

"I've already been writing about my own stuff," Kurt said, looking a bit confused.

"Yeah, ain't the same, though." Todd was sure he had something here. "You ain't tellin' all the worst secrets to a machine an' an interviewer. Talkin' is different, fool."

"I guess. You mean I shouldn't ask everyone else to do what I haven't?"

"Sure." That was it. Kind of. "I'll go first, but you gotta."

"Fine." Kurt set up his recorder again and opened his notebook, then nodded expectantly.

At least he'd given everyone else a heads-up. Todd hadn't for a moment considered handing his life story over to Kurt's weird little project. He did get the idea in theory. The more stories out there, the more kids wouldn't have to feel alone and the more bigots might be convinced that nothing good could come of making sure every mutant was miserable and preferably dead. Cute idea. He was pretty sure it'd just be grit for the propaganda mills, though.

But Trixie was just one of a lot of kids out there. If there was anything to it... He sighed and began. "So, uh, I was born lookin' like this. Freaky colors an' tongue an' webbed fingers. The guy who knocked up a high school girl an' got her to walk out on her family for him ran off the second he got handed the freak baby, so that was awesome. An' my mom's bugfuck nuts, so... Dam it, Crawler, you know all this."

"It doesn't have to be everything that ever happened to you," Kurt said quietly. "It can just be part of your life, or one important story."

Todd thought a moment and took a sip from the bottle, figuring it might not hurt to be a little fuzzy for this. "So... I didn't get along too well in the foster system. I freaked out the nice folks an' I never did behave myself. But what happened to Trix aside, y'know, people don't agree to take on kids without families so they can pick on 'em. The last ones I had were this couple named Jennie an' Doug. Really busy, but they had a home full of kids who got left behind by everyone else. There were three other kids while I was in there. I was the oldest an' they did mostly just kinda leave me alone. Didn't need bedtime stories or nothin', y'know?

"Didn't really hate school so much back then. Boring, yeah, but I had nothin' else to do. Daytime TV is crap an' I looked like, ten. So someone'd notice if I went to go run around outside or whatever. But this place was actually out in the suburbs. Ain't like kids don't act like little shits in the city, but there's a lot more people an' stuff to pay attention to. Not so hard t'just disappear, y'know? This school was little an' the rest of middle school knew each other since kindergarten, y'know? So I stuck out a lot more than usual.

"I wasn't such a dumbshit that I let my tongue out where people could see, but the legs an'... y'know, the face? Kinda a giveaway that somethin' was up. An' ok, I was kinda a little creep. Unlike now, right? Right. So what starts with mean names an' crap like that gets worse over the next couple'a months. Their big thing was blamin' stuff on me, an' the teacher always bought it. Weird new kid, no real parents to piss off. That an' I actually did do it half the time, but I figured out quick that it didn't matter whether I did or not.

"So I just took it. Figured detention wasn't a big deal. Just half an hour lookin' at a clock, same as any other class. It was usually pretty empty, too. Kinda town that liked t'think the kids were little angels. But there was one other kid who was always there. Not actually in detention, actually. Don't think she ever did a thing against the rules in her life. But she was the principal's secretary's kid, or somethin' like that, so she'd sit in the room an' just read while the rest of us paid our debt to society until her mom went home.

"I thought it was so _cool_ that she could be there an' do all the same things as us, but she always seemed totally happy while we were bein' punished. Like she lived in a whole different world where all the crap in mine couldn't get in. It's weird, I guess, 'cus the ladies I fall for nowadays tend to be the scary ones, but Sooraya? She barely even talked. She just kinda drifted around somewhere above the mere mortals.

"So there's my first true love, right? But she didn't know I existed, which I didn't know what to do about. I just kinda let it be for a while. Watched her at recess, I guess. Sat close at lunch. Totally sad. I remember I had this idea that I'd find out when her birthday was an' get her a headscarf. She always wore these ones with flowers an' gold... Real fancy. Kinda lucky I never got to that, actually. Can you imagine eighth-grade me pickin' out what I figured a pretty girl would want? Yeesh.

"Prolly would of gone on like that all year, but then there was a snowstorm. Didn't look too bad in the afternoon, so the principal didn't send us home or even let us outta detention, but it really got bad about ten minutes after we started. So they decided to just have us wait it out until conditions are a little better. It's all the after school clubs an' sports besides detention, all kinda hangin' out in the gym.

"Not that I cared. Sooraya found a corner to read in an' I found one to keep an eye on her. But put a buncha little savages like middle schoolers in a gym with a blizzard outside an' nothin to do but watch a crappy movie... Gets all Lord of the Flies pretty quick.

"...I went to freshie English class, okay? Teacher was hot.

"Couple little bastards that I bet were on the football team when they grew up went to find someone to pick on. Guess I was hidden too well, because they picked her.

"I don't think that usually happened. She wasn't a cool kid, but she wasn't that nerdy or weird. She stayed outta the way pretty good. But they were out for blood. At first she was doin' the thing grown-ups always tell yah, ignore it an' they'll stop. Just makes 'em madder, though. So after she won't take the bait about how ugly she is, they move on to... Well, since these were about the most white bread guys there are, I'm bettin' they just heard this stuff from their folks when the mosque was built in town. Just a guess. That got to her.

"But just enough that she got up an' started to walk away. Like I said, they hate it when they don't get a rise. One of 'em grabbed her an' she freaked. But instead of yellin' or takin' a swing like you usually do when you spaz out... Well, she did what a thirteen year old mutant does. The arm he grabbed onto just kinda disappeared an' this cloud kinda rushed outta the sleeve right by his face. Pretty cool, actually. But then she kinda froze up an' they were all just lookin' at each other, this girl with her arm growin' back, three guys with muscle for brains, one with a big scrape on his cheek, no one with a clue what's goin' on.

"So I was super excited. First sign I'd seen of anyone bein' like me, y'know? Freaky, but so cool. Didn't even mind that she had, like, way better powers than me. Plus, well, Sooraya was tall an' so was the junior jock league, but I could still fit in in a gradeschool. So it wasn't like anyone was gonna see me comin'.

"Might be givin' myself too much credit. I don't think I planned it that much. I just slimed a guy. I was pretty new at it, so I only half got him. Plus it's just gross, not poison or nothin'. But it was just, well, weird. I'm a big believer in just freakin' people out 'til they can't cope no more. Though I think I might of slimed Sooraya, too. Not that that was the straw that broke the camel's back, I don't think, but...

"Anydangway. One of these guys had had his face hit by aerial hand-sandpaper, one was all over green sludge... I bet the other one didn't wanna see what was waitin' for him. They pretty much ran back to where most'a the kids were watchin' the Saved by the Bell movie.

"I figured they were gonna tell on us any second, but I didn't care. It seemed like I had it made. I'd found another freak, only, y'know, beautiful an' awesome. I was already sure we were gonna run away to a secret island an' get married. We didn't have to be weird alone anymore, y'know? Plus I saved her from jerks.

"But she didn't so much wanna hold hands at the cafeteria dessert counter as get the hell away from me. She backed up, so I figured she must just be nervous. I went off about how I didn't know there was anyone else like me an' I'd never let anyone pick on her again... Anyway, she threw her book at me, ran away, an' hid in the bathroom until the storm calmed down. I tried to give the book back the next day. She threw a pencil an' then told the teacher I was the one who started the fight. Never talked to me after that. I tried a couple times, but there weren't a lotta chances. Mystique hunted me down right after, pulled whatever strings she's got. ...So that's not much of an ending, is it."

Todd felt as though he were coming back to earth after a long way away. Even if it was just one stupid story, he'd never done anything like that before. There certainly hadn't been anyone to listen to him just talk about dumb things that rankled all the more because they _were_ dumb and no one should care, least of all him.

He wasn't sure how something could be so nice and also feel like a cheese grater being dragged repeatedly over his heart.

"Real stories don't have endings," Kurt said quietly, looking up from his notebook and shutting off the recorder. "Don't worry about that. I'll use it."

"Really? 'Cus what kinda story is that for a mutant kid to hear? Or their folks, either." He'd gotten a little carried away, but now he wondered where he'd been going at all with that mess. Aside from catharsis, anyway.

"How about the ones who are so afraid of who they are and what people might do that they try to keep other mutants away? Maybe they'll learn what they're missing out on." Kurt smiled and Todd could tell he meant it, the sappy moron. "Besides, there's also the whole point about what life is like for mutants, and everything that's true belongs there."

"If you say so." He was incredulous to say the least. Todd decided he was glad about the beer after all and took a long drink. Loaded him with courage to reach over and switch Kurt's recorder back on. "You're up, Nightcreeper."

"Of course I am." He'd been hoping Todd had forgotten. "Well, since the backbone of the site is my stories anyway, I guess it doesn't matter much what I talk about here. Hmm. Well, okay. So when my parents went over the wall-"

"Huh?"

"My parents sneaked out of East Berlin just ahead of the KGB."

Todd's eyes widened a little. "Whoa."

"They spent a lot more time in real life quietly arresting college students than seducing James Bond. Anyway, most of my father's family lived in West Germany anyway, and they helped my parents get settled and moved in in Munich. But they didn't get along very well with his aunt and uncle. With the Iron curtain pretty much outside the window, a lot of people on the western side got a bit on the, um, conservative side. My parents left the USSR because they believed in the ideals and wanted to reform the system and were targeted for it, not because they thought all socialism was evil and godless. And Papi's uncle was the kind of guy who'd spent his younger days trying to shut down student protests.

"So a lot of details and arguments later, my parents decided to leave the city. They needed some breathing room, and they set up all the way in Bavaria, far away from everything. Mama still needed to travel a lot. She was doing talks on top of writing then. I guess when you're all about history and political science it impresses people when you walk the walk and not just talk the talk? I'm on a tangent. Anyway, they were comfortably in the middle of nowhere and they liked it, and then I turned up.

"For a long time the only person who knew about me was a doctor my mother had known in school. I kind of hated her, since she always acted like I was about to bite off her hand or eat her soul, but I guess it's to her credit that she made sure I was healthy anyway and never told anyone. My revenge was being extra polite all the time. It made her feel bad. And then there was Father Almeric. I told you about him. And that was my whole world when I was very small.

"But Germany was reunified in 1990, and my mother's mother asked if she could come live with my parents.

"Every rotten thing you can say about Papi's family, well, Oma was the opposite. She was a Night Witch during World War II, but she saw nothing weird about proceeding to marry a German and move into a city she'd personally bombed to hell. She married him for his piano playing, apparently, and they lived in a tiny apartment with his boyfriend and her boyfriend, composing symphonies. She was kind of a lunatic, is what I mean, and she'd definitely never cared what anyone thought.

"So my parents decided to risk letting her know about me. They sent a picture, but they didn't tell me. I guess they didn't want to scare me. I was pretty scared when they handed me a letter from my grandmother, though. And it was, well... A totally normal letter that a strange old lady might send a little kid. She asked about the chickens—we had chickens back then—and told me I must be very careful to spell things right or Baba Yaga would carry me off. I'd never heard that Baba Yaga had anything to do with spelling. Before or since, actually. But I checked every word three times when I wrote her back.

"I didn't get another letter and I thought she must have decided to hate me after all. This idea that there was someone out in the world who was glad to have me in it was new, ja? But then she turned up at the house with a suitcase, a photo album, and a piano in the back of her truck.

"Mama was her only child, so I was her only shot at a grandkid. Maybe that was why she couldn't care less that I was kind of fuzzy. She did call me Obyezʲyanaka. Little monkey. But she used silly names for everyone. She'd try to carry me on her shoulders even though she was supposed to use a walker to get around and she taught me the fine art of forgetting a language whenever someone tries to give you orders.

"She died when I was nine. At least I got to say a proper goodbye, since there was no one to go to the funeral but us and Father Almeric was pretty good at keeping an eye on things when I was around. She was only even baptized on her deathbed, actually. Oma was a true-blue communist... True red? Anyway, she was one up until then, but she said she wanted to lie someplace pretty if she couldn't do anything else."

God, even his sad stories were gently adorable. Todd drove his heel into his toes so he wouldn't accidentally make the koala face.

He'd assumed Kurt was done talking about his crazy grandma, but after a moment's pause, blue boy went on. "I'm pretty sure she didn't know about the castle and the river."

Alright, koala face was almost definitely happening and he'd just have to assume Kurt wasn't going to start noticing now. Guy looked like a kicked puppy. In his head, Todd took Kurt's hand, nuzzled it to his cheek, and whispered, _shh, baby, you got me now, and I'm way too mean a bastard to let anyone hurt my koala bear_. So that was nice. Stuck in reality, he settled for clinking his beer bottle to Kurt's with a laconic shrug.


	18. Chapter 18

"So Augie's not even _doing_ science fair, because he says he has enough trouble fitting in without being a nerd, and I told him to get over himself, because it's the information age and it's time for nerds to rule the world."

"Yup."

"But I like that it's voluntary here, because that means only the people who want to will do it, and the experiments will be cool. I haven't really decided on mine yet. I know Jamie's making a potato clock. I'm not sure if that counts as an experiment. Don't you think it sounds more like a demonstration? Because I do."

"Sure."

"But I think I want you to help me build a cold fusion perpetual motion machine out of string theory to bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish."

"Kay."

"...You're not listening." Trixie turned a full-wattage pout on him.

"Yeah I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because everything I just said was gibberish or impossible."

"Y'know I can't tell, kiddo." He tossed a greasy towel over his shoulder. The early spring had made getting work done a lot faster, eliminating finger-rewarming breaks as it did. He'd almost gotten over wincing every time he realized he practically had a job, too.

"Right, you gotta act dumb. Sometimes I forget. Will you help me if I think of something machiney, though?"

"Yeah, I'll figure it out. But maybe put a mouse in a maze instead."

"I don't like mice. They're dumb. I like rats, though. Think the professor would let me get a rat if it were for school?"

"No. And ew."

"Oh, yeah, you're grossed out by things now, slimey. Rats are cool."

"Not if you live in a sewer they ain't."

"They would be if I did. I'd befriend them and they could carry messages to my allies in enemy-controlled territory."

Todd straightened up, rolled out his shoulders, and pointed determinedly down the hall toward the central rooms. "Torpid went to bed. Ain't you supposed to be back early, sugar pie?"

"It's Friday. Besides, you gotta say hi to your boyfriend or he'll be sad, and it's funny."

"Hey, Trixie, guess how many noogies I owe you for twelve years' worth?"

"Lighten up, Toddface." At least she started back. He followed to make sure she didn't get distracted on the way. "He can't hear me. Besides, based on my data, the amount of time he spends with you relative to everyone else and the trouble he goes to to do it suggests you should at least figure out a sneaky way to find out if he likes boys."

"Ha, funny." He dropped from walking to hopping. It suited sullen disinterest better, and he didn't want her to think he was a little intrigued by the suggestion. He really wasn't. It was just the stupid hope-monster again.

"No, I have charts and everything. Besides, he'd probably have to give me more rides if you dated him."

He snorted almost good-naturedly at that. The idea of him dating anybody... At least Trixie had the sense to change the subject back to science as they stepped out into what was now almost a real kitchen, thanks to Toad-style innovation. Rogue and Kurt were at the table with Callisto and Lucid, sharing a newspaper.

"Get a haircut, hippie," Todd said by way of greetings.

"Isn't yours almost as long as his?" Rogue asked, looking between them in confusion.

"It's an inside joke. Don't bother." Kurt shrugged. There were a lot of those if you talked about nothing for a few hours every Friday night. Or every Friday night that wasn't marred by attending a press conference in the City (in careful disguise, of course), getting his furry ass handed to him by Legion on a mission, and coming down with the flu. It was a little bit funny that he remembered every time he'd missed a meetup over the past two and a half months, but he didn't think much of it.

"I don't even wanna get it," Rogue said, standing and stretching. "Betcha I'm takin' Trixie home?"

"Ja, I'll catch up." His teleporting was almost up to scratch again. He had his aim back, anyway, if not quite his old endurance, and careful practice had taught him some new tricks. He waved to his sister as she bustled an always reluctant Trixie along. She never liked leaving her brother. It was pretty adorable.

"How's she doin'?" Todd asked, leaning against the chest freezer for a moment before Callisto swatted him and hissed something about bending the lid. He scooted over a bit to the wall instead.

Kurt was sure Trixie didn't tell her brother about anti-mutant sentiment at school or personality clashes with a few of the other Institute students, but he wasn't going to rat her out. Even if he knew that was exactly what his friend was fishing for. "She screwed up Scott's super deadly danger room session the other day. That was pretty funny."

"Yeah? What'd Summers have planned that was so great?"

"He had these tubes that were supposed to shoot paralyzing darts when motion detectors set them off. Sometimes I swear they just test new security measures on us and get snippy when we have to fail the scenario a dozen times before we work it out." Kurt shrugged and smiled as Torpid trudged in, rubbing her eyes and carrying a Minnie Mouse mug. When Lucid stepped up to help her with her quest for hot chocolate, he went on. "But Trixie went up to scout and I guess they were hologrammed to just look like some of the ceiling, so she walked on them. Mr. McCoy got her with alarmed walls last week, so she figured she was just being clever. Anyways, you know how clumsy she is when she's speeding, so she kicked them all out of alignment and their detectors were pointing at nothing, so a whole bunch of the newest students walked right through the scary trap and finished their objective in time for extra dessert."

"That's my girl." Todd nodded approvingly. "She does got the speed thing down now?"

"Mostly. I haven't seen her run full-tilt into anything or get stuck for a while."

"Sometime when I don't figure Daddy's a worry, I'mma sic her on Pietro. Not 'cus she'll catch him, 'cus she won't, but it might give him somethin' to think about."

"I wonder if she could see him a little when he's running?" Kurt speculated. He was about to mention that she'd told him her glasses prescription was a particular problem because her distinctly mutant eyes did all kinds of things differently from the norm, but like most things Trixie said at several thousand whispery words a minute, he hadn't absorbed a lot. He decided to change the subject instead. "Oh, um, I brought something for-"

"What's that?" Lucid hissed suddenly, cutting him off.

"What's what?" Kurt asked, then immediately regretted it. Stupid questions were usually not helpful, and he'd gotten to know the Morlocks all pretty well by now. The man looked serious.

"Weird smell," Todd said. "We get that sometimes lately, while stuff unfreezes, but that's nothin' I've noticed before..."

"Chemical. And familiar, but I can't place it, which isn't good." Callisto frowned and stepped up to one of Todd's intercom stations. They were all designed to look like randomly accumulated junk. It helped that they were _made_ of randomly accumulated junk, of course. There was always a bit of white noise from the recycled speakers, but to Kurt's sharp ears it seemed like there was a little more than usual. "Everyone, we might have a contaminant problem. Head to your nearest safe exit and lie low on the surf-"

The fuzzy spikes in the static were starting to annoy Kurt and he was about to ask Todd about them when one rose to an ear-splitting shriek. He winced, but Callisto staggered back with her hands over her ears, moaning. Must have had her senses turned up.

"That's bad," he said a little weakly.

"This is worse," Todd's voice snapped. Kurt spun around, letting Lucid take care of Callisto. Torpid was on the floor, struggling to hold herself up on her hands and knees. Before he could grab hold of her and port her to the Institute—it seemed like the thing to do—his head suddenly pulsed with pain. He managed not to fall over, but he definitely didn't make it over to the child in obvious distress.

When he wrenched his eyes open, Lucid was slumped against the wall, Todd in a deep crouch holding his head, and Callisto face-down and shuddering.

Everything was happening too fast and his head was killing him. Kurt almost lost his balance but caught himself with his tail. It had a mind of its own sometimes, and at the moment it seemed to be doing better than he was. He was still up when Cybelle stumbled into the room. "Pow-R 8," she croaked. "In the air. They have Scaleface. Told Facade to hide. Don't know about Caliban and Spyke."

Kurt didn't think it would really help, but he pulled the neck of his t-shirt up over his nose. He lurched forward unsteadily, giving up the support of the shelf his tail had fastened onto. He immediately hit the floor with both knees, but the sudden impact kept him focused. He'd get to Torpid and Todd and get them both out. He could come back for the others if he got some outside air. He was sure of it. Just had to make it those few feet. Maybe he should port? But no, he'd better save all his energy for that big jump to the surface.

Todd was still a little bit conscious when Kurt landed in a heap at his feet, a few inches short of his goal. He'd thought he'd used up all the anger he was capable of when he watched a little girl go down in pain and abject terror, but his favorite fuzzy demon? Turned out there was a little anger left.

Not that he could do anything with it. He fell next to Kurt a moment later. Next thing he knew his head was pounding and there was no difference between opening his eyes and not bothering. He was pretty sure the hum and jitter below him suggested he was in a vehicle, but that might have just been his brain being broken.

His hands were zip-tied behind him, so to explore even a little he had to roll onto his side and grope aimlessly. He reached out as far as he could, registered both leather and something soft, and whipped the hands back at top speed despite the way it jarred his head. Even accidentally, feeling up the boss lady was a shit idea.

"I felt that."

"Sorry, ma'am."

"Shh!" came a hiss from someone female. "Almost have these off." Ah, Cybelle. "There. Can anyone do light at all? I think I've got a few more shots of acid in me."

Even Todd felt muted as much as in pain, like his powers and his thoughts were running on fumes. Seemed like whatever had drugged them had hit at multiple levels, leaving them close to helpless. Which would explain why they were all tossed in the back of a truck instead of encased in green stuff. Unless these people didn't have mutant-prison goop. Who knew?

"I can see a little. Get me," Kurt's voice whispered. At least he was up, the wimp.

"We all here?" Todd asked over the hiss of Cybelle's corrosion at work.

"Aside from Facade," Callisto answered. "I'd guess the only reason we're awake now is they were testing that formula. It'd be hard to hit the right balance between dead and asleep."

"Any guesses who's got us?" Lucid asked, his voice even more unintelligible than usual.

"Someone with access to poisoned gatorade, goons, and a truck," Scaleface sighed.

"That might be a good thing. Sounds like a start-up evil anti-mutant organization," Kurt joked weakly. "Here, Cybelle, get Evan next."

"Yeah, I can burn through a few more of these cuffs. I think that's probably it." It'd take a lot to make Evan admit he wasn't up to all the combat the world could ever throw at him.

So why didn't Kurt feel so bad? He could only guess that his screwy metabolism was helping him dump the poison faster than the others. Callisto also seemed a little more sprightly when they got her out. She crawled the perimeter of their little prison, cursing and checking everyone for worse injuries than bruises. His theory probably panned out. He helped guide Cybelle's hands and Evan produced two small, glowing spikes for light, then slumped even with that little effort.

He felt bad for his friend, but if he was even halfway functional, this didn't have to be a total disaster. Even his brain was working. A little. "Lucid, can you look through the wall and tell me if we're still in Bayville? And exactly where?" At speeds like this, even a short jump was risky.

He was glad the other mutant didn't argue. Lucid stared in that unnerving way of his for a moment. "Just barely. We're just over the bridge by those office parks."

"Ja, okay. Evan, can you carry Torpid? The landing's going to be rough."

"Got her."

"Good." Kurt grabbed his arm and then Caliban's, too. It was crazy to try to port three, even if one of them was very small. And in his condition... But what else could he do? They had to get the child out and if anyone with a vendette against mutants got their hands on Caliban's powers, it didn't bear thinking about. Lucid woozily read the name on the sign they were coming up to, and luckily Kurt knew it. Kitty's dentist was in that lot. He made the jump.

It was too hot and he felt like his rib cage was being squeezed, but they came out the other side. That was a new unpleasantness. Must have been the extra passenger, but he was too busy tumbling on the highway median to think too much.

He didn't have time to do more than glance and make sure all three Morlocks were alive and as well as they could be in the middle of a highway on a rainy night, poisoned and just un-abducted. He took note of the next possible jump location and the innocent-looking moving truck that was the only car on the road and ported back.

At least when they'd landed on the street (and not the side of the road where he'd meant to be, but he forgave himself under the circumstances) it had just been him and momentum working it out. Here, he landed in the middle of the floor and was tossed straight into the back of the truck. He hoped the bang wouldn't alert anyone, but just in case it did, he didn't hesitate, grabbing the closest two. Cybelle and Lucid.

So he left his extra pair of eyes behind when he dropped them under a posted speed limit. More than battered and tired enough to make up for having escaped some of the worst effects of the poison, he felt his tail bend too much as he fell onto the curb. Icing on the cake. At least his head didn't hit the concrete or this would be over.

"Your nose is bleeding, ace reporter. Don't do it again," Lucid threatened.

Kurt ignored him and aimed again. The jump was a struggle. He might as well have been back in the mountains, hunted like an animal and weary almost to death. Lucky for the brain fog of exhaustion kept him from thinking too hard about it.

There was a horrid pain somewhere in his tail when he landed back in the truck again. Hard to say where. It shot up his spine like boiling ice and made him cry out before he could stop himself. Probably just made the sprain worse when he hit the door. His vision was blurry but he held out his hands, took the two that met his and clung as hard as he could. The world was slipping away a little and the solid warmth kept him in place.

Callisto and Scaleface. Damn, not the ones he wanted. Why hadn't Todd come forward yet? But it wasn't like he would leave them. He was rescuing everyone. He heard a shout as he ported again, the words not quite processing and the sound like it was coming through water. "Don't you fucking dare come ba-"

He crumpled like a rag doll when he landed with the two women. They'd both fallen too, but he couldn't get over the impression they were supporting him.

"Stay where you are. We're all out."

"Liar," he hissed, trying to focus his eyes. The truck. He could still catch it. It was well within his range if he could just settle on where it was... Maybe if he just focused on the space inside, pitch black but for two rapidly fizzling spikes.

"I'd rather have you alive than an honesty merit badge. I can hear your heart buzzing from here, little furball. Stay still while I take a look at that tail."

"Nein." Todd was still in the truck. All his practice at teleporting over the last months had made him stronger. Even when teleporting felt like forcing his way through powerful waves, he hadn't stopped halfway through like last time. He'd thought he was just getting his powers back for their own sake, but turned out it was really for this. He muttered a prayer over whatever Callisto said next and teleported.

He landed just inches from Todd. God really was with him. The truck was coming up on the highway and it'd be too fast then. He only had seconds and he'd make good use of them. Ignoring the stream of abuse from Todd's mouth, he threw his arm around the smaller boy's shoulders and made his last jump.

He knew the falling sensation of a failed teleport now, but he only had a second to be furious with himself before he collapsed onto Todd, unconscious again.

Todd had already been queasy, between being poisoned and scared out of his mind and all, but he decided that an aborted port was the worst sensation ever, even with some familiarity. He was almost too angry to care. "God fucking dammit, Wagner! I told you not to come back! You goddamn know you can't do this. You..." He ran out of actual words and just groaned, covering his face with one hand to growl incoherent rage at the world. The other hand was busy holding Kurt up so he didn't land on the floor and give himself a concussion, if he didn't have one already after all the knocks he'd taken.

"Pretty good, huh?" Kurt muttered from against Todd's neck. He tried not to be distracted. Being furious instead helped. "Es tut mir leid, mein freund. Without Lucid there's no way to see out of here and by the time I'd be up to port us, we'll be too far."

"Which is why I told you not to... not to... Oh, Christ." Something sticky was pooling against his pant leg, and when he finally looked down, blood was the most pleasant thing he could make out by the fading light of Spyke's makeshift torches. "Oh, God."

"Was?"

"Kurt, your tail."

"Ja, I think it might be broken." Or at least badly sprained.

"You could say that." The tip was gone. Todd had spent some time in contemplation of the elegant thing, and he guessed about an inch and a half was missing, the neat spade shape now horribly foreshortened at a jagged angle. "It must of gone through something solid one of the times you ported."

Kurt tried to lift it up to see, let out a pained squeak, and dug his fingers into Todd's shoulder. Nope. Trying again, he reached back with a shaky hand and lifted his tail as gently a he could, teeth gritted against the pain.

Pain that doubled as soon as he was looking at the damage, or maybe the initial shock was just fading. He stomach turned violently and he screwed his eyes shut. He also dropped his tail, and another awful shudder wracked him as the injury hit the floor again.

He noticed as that nauseous wave of pain ebbed a bit that Todd's arms were tight around him, holding him up. Kurt didn't see any reason he should mind, and he was so cold all of a sudden. All he could be was grateful. "Entschuldigung."

He knew that one by now. "Ah, shut up, Crawler. You saved 'em all. Do yourself a favor an' pass out, fool."

Todd had grown used to the fork in the road that came whenever his tenderness for Kurt sparked. There was what he said and did and the simultaneous fantasy of what he'd like to say and do. They were closer than usual as he sat in the darkness, holding Kurt to him. What he would have said was, s_hh, Blue. You saved everybody. Now rest while I try and figure how to save you._


	19. Chapter 19

When the truck stopped, Todd had no sense of how long they'd been traveling. With nothing to do but stare into perfect darkness and check that Kurt was still breathing, it could have been a few hours or all night. He was stiff, hungry, and cold, but that probably would have been the case anyway.

When the back door of the truck flew up, he winced at the sudden light and shut his eyes. The moment of blindness quickly passed, and he was sorry he'd missed the looks on their faces, finding two mutants where they'd left nine. The grunts with guns were wearing spooky helmets anyway, but there was also a guy in a suit, and his confused rage was pretty awesome.

"Figure it out, bitches," he said hoarsely, flipping them all off for all one hand was worth He left his other arm around Kurt, who'd been sporadically out of it. At the moment he seemed to be awake; Todd could see the faint glow from his eyes in the gloom here at the back. Playing possum probably wasn't the worst plan.

But Todd didn't trust him one bit after tonight. "Guns everywhere, Nightcreeper. Bullet guns, not the zappy kind. No freakin' heroics." He tried to be quiet and maybe they couldn't make out what he'd said, but they could definitely see him talking to the blue kid collapsed in his lap.

"Only if you stop insulting them," came a reply whispered into his shoulder. Todd decided to ignore that.

"Collar them," said the main in the suit, apparently conceding to work with what he'd been given.

Todd tried to lean away from the oncoming goons, but his back was already against the wall. He was pleasantly distracted when he felt Kurt's fingers in his coat. But confused. "Huh?"

"That's what I was bringing you tonight. Bet I won't see you for a while. Hold onto it." Kurt straightened up with a wince. Even in the hazy chemical light of the garage they were in, he looked awful. The nosebleed had made it down to his mouth and the effect on fur was icky even by Toad standards. He was filthy, probably from hitting the road repeatedly at high speeds. For some reason, Todd was particularly bothered by the mess the night had made of the stupid hair Kurt had been growing out because he thought it was artistic or some shit. His ponytail was pulled to the side and the silky hair was caked with mud and debris and probably blood, too.

This had better not be the way he had to remember his Kurt. No, his Nightcrawler. Todd might not have a head for black opps, but he knew they'd want to stick to code names. "Thanks man. See yah."

One of the soldiers picked Kurt up effortlessly and he made one of those squeaky sounds again. The bleeding had stuck his fucking tail to the floor and he opened his mouth in a barely restrained scream when it was ripped away all at once. Todd was almost so angry he lost it, but the glint of those guns was too real and he was too much of a coward. He sat still until one of them grabbed him, too. He might have been denser than Kurt, but he wasn't significantly harder for a muscle-bound creep like this to toss around like a sack of potatoes.

He seriously considered slime, but they might take it for dangerous rather than gross. He was denied even that small satisfaction and one of them snapped a thin, beeping ring of metal around his neck.

The sensation was sickmaking. A thrumming shock went through him, starting around the collar but shooting in seconds down to his toes. At first he thought it was that poison again, but that had just made him tired and in pain and his powers had ebbed only alongside every other function. Now, as the initial crawling vibes died away, he was acutely aware that his slime was shut off. Experimentally, he tried to stick to the floor with the one foot that was still touching it. Nothing.

Further tests would have to wait. When they put the same thing on Kurt, he twitched like a mishandled marionette and slumped forward the few inches they'd let him, retching. One of the goons raised a hand and would have smacked him if the boss hadn't snapped an order to stand down. If he hadn't, guns or no guns, Todd would have tested out whether his legs were as strong as they should have been.

"Infirmary," said the suit, pointing at Kurt. "Cell." He jabbed a finger at Todd and turned away, immediately, dialing a fancy-ass cell phone.

They were both dragged out into a small underground garage that looked totally unremarkable, except that he couldn't see how they'd come in. Todd tried to keep an eye on Kurt, but the furball was half carried to a door across the lot, while he was cuffed again (too tightly) and marched up creaky metal stairs.

He wished he'd asked a little more about Area 51, not that Freddy was good at remembering things or that this was likely to be that place. He was pretty sure he hadn't been in that truck long enough to get to Nevada, and it seemed like they'd be a little fancier. More efficient. But at least it'd be some insight into being captured and... Well, what? Interrogated? Experimented on? Put in a freaking zoo?

The one thing he did know was that he wasn't going to be good. While there were guns trained on him, he'd keep his head down, but even if Kurt hadn't been involved, even if he hadn't actually had Trixie and the Morlocks and the Brotherhood to get back to, he'd have been uncooperative out of sheer spite. Nobody got what they wanted out of Todd Tolansky, dammit.

For now, he focused on where he was and how he got there. He probably wouldn't see a cool escape route, but being observant couldn't hurt. The stairs brought him to an industrial-looking hallway, and his captors shoved him to the right. Up a half flight of stairs, across a little mezzanine overlooking a roomful of computer stuff, into an elevator, and then down again. There was a big muscly dude between him and the controls, so he couldn't see how many floors or any identifiers. It felt like they'd gone down further than a regular basement, anyway.

They came out in a hallway full of transparent rooms, free standing so the view was clear from all sides and the ceiling. Each contained a couple of beds, a toilet, and a screen built into the wall, and a lot of them had people inside. Todd didn't recognize any of them, but a few were obviously mutants and the others were probably just better at hiding it. Still too many guns to try banging on the walls or anything.

They stopped at an empty room and shoved him inside. The door closed behind him and barely left a seam in the wall, which was a little upsetting. What was worse was that the walls were dark and shiny on this side. So they could see him and he couldn't see them. He suspected it was also pretty soundproof. He was going to go nuts fast.

He glared at the bed, trying to decide whether to collapse or lean on the wall just to be uncooperative. Todd jumped when the screen behind him blinked on with a beep. White words on a black background scrolled by, accompanied by an electronic female-sounding voice reading along. "Subject Tau-28, this is your compliance guide."

"This is my what now?" He knew he was mouthing off to a computer, but it still made him feel better.

"Immediate and exacting cooperation results in privilege rewards. Non-compliance results in privilege forfeiture and additional penalties when warranted. Your current compliance status can be accessed from the bottom right of the screen. Your current status is zero. Any non-compliance will result in penalties at level zero. Privileges can be accessed beginning at level ten."

"Fuck you. Fuck you in the ear." A secret prison designed for torture and psychological terror was one thing, but an honest-to-god brownie point system? He was doomed.

"Instruction: Remove your clothes and place them on the lighted tile in the northwest corner of the room. Then step into the southeast corner for decontamination."

"Oh, like hell I will." He thought of the clear walls and shuddered. Freakin' sickos. He wasn't too worried about penalties. What were they going to do? Not feed him? He was used to that. It wasn't like they'd want to damage him, right? Kurt had gone to a doctor, at least.

He ignored the screen and reached into his coat to find what Kurt had left behind. Just a folded up square of paper. Huh. Todd dropped into a crouch to read it, hoping to block any cameras or observers. It was a printed email, and Todd recognized the domain name as belonging to Kurt's stupid site.

_I want to thank you for making these stories available. They have brought hope to me and to my mother. Someday soon I hope she will let me go back to school. I am a muslima as well as a mutant, and she does not trust the world with any part of me. I believe we must live in this world, and it is better to do it fully and without fear. I do not know who you are, but I know you believe this, too._

_But I am not only writing to thank you. I found myself in one of these stories. I was the girl who lashed out with my sand at bullies in a gym and was cruel to the boy who came to help me. When it happened I thought it was the only thing that I could do. No one could see my mutation by looking at me, but his was very clear even in those days before mutants were all over television. I was afraid to be seen with him. I prized my secret more than a person who had only tried to help me and had every reason to think we should be allies and friends. _

_I don't know if you have any contact with him, but if you do, I simply ask you to tell him that Soorayah is sorry._

Todd crunched the paper to his chest. He wouldn't have guessed she remembered him at all, and given he didn't really blame her for telling him to get lost, the apology was extra sweet. He couldn't help picturing her now, tall and graceful, wrapped up in her long dresses and pretty scarves that brought her pretty, sharp-featured face into such brilliant focus. A Soorayah at eighteen would be quite a sight.

But it was enough that she thought of him a little bit fondly. What made his heart beat a little harder (or maybe that was the lingering effect of the drugs from before, who knew?) was how damn _Kurt_ this was. Fuzzy believed _so damn much_ in making the world better one little gesture and story and prayer at a time that Todd was almost sucked up in it.

He wanted to keep the note, but that obviously wasn't an option. Kurt would have realized that if he'd been in a condition to think about it any. If they saw this thing that'd probably do it for the anonymity aspect of Kurt's little project, and Soorayah's real name needed defending, too. He looked around for a way to get rid of it and opted for the toilet. The moment it got wet, the printer ink smeared to nothing.

Satisfied, Todd looked back at the screen, which had switched to red text and was repeating the same creepy instructions as before. He figured he'd just go ahead and ignore it.

"Prolonged non-compliance confirmed," said the stupid voice. The collar around his neck began to hum. It first it wasn't even unpleasant. It felt like the massage chairs you put quarters in at the mall. But in a matter of seconds the vibration increased until he was afraid his bones might rattle to pieces. The headache was especially nasty and he collapsed on the bed, clutching at his temples.

And then it stopped. "Non-compliance penalty will resume in one minute barring immediate cooperation. Subject tau-28 status: zero."

"I get it. Freaky." Todd looked back over his shoulder, knowing perfectly well he could have an audience of fifty on the other side of the wall and not know it. He stripped off as quickly as he could, just wanting to get it over with.

"Personal effects and clothing should be placed on the lighted tile for incineration," advised the voice.

Todd flipped off the screen. Fortunately he didn't really have any personal effects. Though there were some batteries in his pockets, come to think. Ha. If they really were just burning everything, he hoped the small explosions would screw something up.

He did briefly stop and think that Callisto had given him the jacket, but before he could take a stab at being sentimental, the tile sank into the floor and was immediately covered over by an identical piece of plastic sliding into place.

He'd have been a little more interested in figuring out the security here if he hadn't been naked. Definitely wanted to get this over with. Whatever this was. Decontamination? Didn't sound good, though he had to admit they kind of had a point. He was a bit more of a mess than usual, with Kurt bleeding on him and all. And he was Toad.

So he hopped into the corner opposite the one with the glowy automated square, hunched down as much as he could be. He looked up and saw there were a bunch of little holes in one of the ceiling tiles. Was it just a shower? Gross, but not the end of the world.

He regretted squinting up a moment later when scorching water burst out on him. That was bad enough, but it reeked of disinfectant. He found the fake, caustic smell of regular soap intolerable, but this was as bad as a janitor's industrial everything-cleaner. His skin itched and reddened almost immediately. When he tried to curl up on himself and avoid it, the collar hummed threateningly. Which had to mean someone was watching. He gave up and stood, trying to get the scalding, antiseptic water everywhere as fast as he could.

It finally shut off and he hurled himself across the room, slipping and knocking into a wall. He squawked and groaned out of habit, but he didn't mind one new bruise compared with getting as far away from that as he could. While his skin usually reacted a bit to soap, he was pretty sure that stuff would have left anyone with a rash. It felt like a sunburn. "This decontaminated enough for you, freaks?"

As if in answer, his unwanted companion spoke up again. "Replacement clothing is on the lighted tile in the northwest corner of the room."

"Who knows which direction is which in the middle of a creepy-ass mutant holding compound?" he grumbled, hopping back to the lighted square of floor. An orange jumpsuit waited for him. "You guys ain't even creative." He pulled the awkward garment on. It was too big and flimsy, and as soon as he dropped to hop away, his knees punched right through the cloth. That actually happened with almost any pants he tried to wear, but he still blamed them.

Todd jumped into the closest bed and stretched out with a sigh. Used as he was to brushing off minor injuries, there was nothing to distract him from them right now. Except where Kurt was and what might be happening to him, but he'd take the itching skin and bruises.

* * *

Kurt remembered being dragged to a small infirmary, but they'd injected him with something and he didn't know how much time had gone by. He heard people moving around and he was cold and still in considerable pain. That wasn't a lot of information. He opted to stay still and see if he could get anything more.

"This is a complete disaster," said a man's voice. Kurt didn't think he knew it. "The point of targeting the freaks in the sewer was that no one would notice them gone. A dozen untraceable subjects in one raid."

"We still have two, don't we?" a woman answered. "It's not a vast improvement on our methods, but it's something."

"And the little one is as good an acquisition as any. This one, though, I recognize. Don't you?"

"Yes, I've reviewed all the tapes. I admit, nabbing an X-man is risky, but they clearly don't let this one out in public most of the time. You'd hear if something that looked like that were trying to go to high school." The woman sniffed and Kurt had to struggle to stay quiet. That hurt more than it should. If she was here, she hated all mutants. It wasn't personal.

He tried to think clearly instead. They hopefully just had the news footage of the Sentinel fight and a few others, in which case they should have Todd on film, too. There were a lot more short, pale guys with brown hair than brilliantly blue monkey-elves, but it was probably only a matter of time before they realized.

Kurt turned his attention back to the voice. "It's possible he'd even joined the ones in the sewer. But that's a best case scenario. We'll need to up security and shielding."

"Yes, sir. Take that up with Trask." Ah, there was a name Kurt knew. "There's nothing more _I_ can do for you there. I took the opportunity to get our initial samples. He seems to have a particularly bad reaction to the collar and his injuries seem fairly extensive. That's a little strange. Didn't the actual capture go according to plan?"

"The tapes should have told you that, too, Doctor. He's a teleporter. It must have been hard work freeing the rest of our subjects from a moving truck."

"Then it's a wonder we still have anyone. It's good to know these powers have limits."

"Don't celebrate yet. He was also functioning on a dose of Pow-R 8."

"That method needs further testing if we're going to be targeting anything comparable to sewers. The space and air currents don't make it easy to regulate how much gas any of them are getting."

"That's your area Doctor, not mine. Have someone bring him to the cells if you won't get any more out of him."

They were quiet again. Kurt did his best to absorb the information around his grogginess and headache and the way his tail hurt all the way up his spine. He didn't have much right to be upset that he'd been recognized after his appearance on television around the world, porting through the fight without a care in the world. Or, rather, with cares mainly pertaining to the giant robot, not the end of mutant anonymity and repercussions that would follow him all his life.

But they still hadn't identified him as Kurt Wagner. That was a comfort, and it also meant their research wasn't perfect. He'd teleported in front of people with his image inducer on, after all.

His inducer! It was still on his arm. He had to find a way to destroy it. The thing passed just fine as a digital watch, but just a little bit of prodding would start it up. It was lucky it hadn't been accidentally switched on while the guards were hauling him around.

If he got a second to himself, he'd have to smash it. Not just because it'd blow his cover, which was very important to him despite his better feelings, but because he couldn't let them reverse engineer it. These people already had mutant-specific poison. If they could make their operatives look like anyone...

No. Even if the inducer might help the professor find them, he'd have to get rid of it.

His plans were interrupted by heavy hands lifting him off the table. He groaned before he could stop himself, but apparently these guys were just the help, not the scary doctor lady or the mysterious boss who might find out he'd heard their conversation. He was dropped roughly on a gurney and had to focus on not being sick again for a while. Wheeling along and getting in and out of elevators with his eyes carefully closed and his body still in revolt wasn't easy.

They stopped for a moment and he heard something like an automatic door. An odd, tinny voice reached him as they wheeled forward. "Instruction: Remain on the bed while staff are inside the containment unit."

"Eat a dick, robot bitch," said Todd's voice tiredly. Kurt barely resisted the urge to smile while they transferred him onto a bed and he heard the gurney wheeled out again. When they seemed to be alone, his roommate chimed back in. "You look like shit, fool."

Kurt opened his eyes. "Hello to you, too."

"Yeah, so, this bitch?" Todd stuck his thumb at the screen. "It's gonna start orderin' you around, I bet. An' the collar starts messin' you up if you don't."

"I love this place already." Kurt sat up gingerly. His head spun and he had to swallow another wave of nausea, but he made it halfway vertical successfully. "Are you alright?"

"Didn't figure they'd put us in together. That's somethin'. So... Alright as I can be. "

Kurt didn't quite believe him. Aside from the prison jumpsuit he mostly looked intact, if rattled. Maybe it was the weird light bouncing off the reflective walls that made his complexion even more ashy than usual, just their awful situation that explained the even more guarded, angry body language. He was about to say something when the screen on the wall beeped and Todd threw himself back onto the bed with a groan.

"Subject Omicron-11, this is your compliance guide."

"I can see how this would get really annoying, really fast," Kurt said, though he thought Todd might be overreacting a little. This was hardly the worst thing they had to deal with. He changed his mind when he got his first instruction. "...So how nasty is it when the collar tries to kill me?"

"It bites, man. Just... suck it up. You are kinda a mess." Todd was a little hard to understand, as he had his pillow crammed over his face. But Kurt got the gist and decided to trust him. He gritted his teeth as he stripped down, wincing as he eased his tail through the slit in his jeans by hand. If he'd known the entire room was visible from the outside he might not have been able to do it, but his ruse of pretending to be unconscious on the way in saved him from one little indignity.

He pulled off his image inducer and smashed it under his shoe before he set it on the tile, then hurried through stripping off his clothes. His coat had already vanished back in the infirmary.

Kurt left the rosary around his neck and stood, meaning to hurry the best his current condition would let him. Before he'd taken a step, the voice started up again. "Non-compliance warning. All personal effects are to be placed on the tile for incineration."

"But..." Forgetting modesty and humiliation for a moment, he closed his hand over the crucifix.

"Non-compliance confirmed."

Kurt's physiology was aberrant in a few ways beyond the obvious, allowing a human-sized creature to mimic the movements of more arboreal primates. In particular, his long, thin bones were lighter than normal and his joints were loose and rotated freely. The vibrations from the collar knocked him to the floor like a dropped doll. His current condition was no doubt somewhat to blame, but it was still agonizing.

Todd had already pulled the pillow off his face on the first warning. He tried to work out something to say to convince Kurt to give up his fruity God necklace, but diplomacy stopped being an option when the collar went off. He scrambled forward and yanked the beads off, the chain snapping in his hand. The collar stopped. More confirmation they were being watched.

"Non-compliance penalty will resume in one minute barring immediate cooperation. Subject Omicron-11 status: zero."

"This ain't a secret heirloom from your crazy gramma, is it?" he demanded, eyes firmly on the ground two inches above Kurt's head.

"From my very communist grandmother? No." Of course he couldn't stop joking around, even if his voice was trembling and everything still shaking with the collar inert. "I bought it from a shop at the airport. It's just..."

Todd didn't wait. He jumped off the bed and dropped the broken rosary on the pile of clothes. The tile swept it all away.

"They're going to burn it."

Todd tried to ignore the waver in Kurt's voice. He just didn't understand why it mattered. "Just get under the shower before they do it again, Crawler."

"I... I might need a hand up."

Of course. Todd swallowed and walked over, determinedly not looking at anything, not paying any attention to the warm fur under his hands. Kurt struggled a bit to get up, but once he'd taken a few steps, he nodded, and Todd gratefully got back on the bed and looked down at the pillow. He couldn't even stare at the wall. It was reflective.

He was getting twitchy. Too much shit at once, but it made him a little more angry than miserable, and the result was too much energy. He needed to do something, but anything he tried would probably be futile. And it'd get him vibro-zapped by the robot bitch. He picked at the loose threads around the tears in his knees, trying not to smell the antiseptic miasma from the shower.

Kurt didn't like that part, but hot water was worth it. The blood and filth caked in his fur was bad enough, but the rhythmic noise and the heat shut out reality for a moment. He stayed under until the stream shut off, still not quite feeling clean. He mechanically obeyed the voice and pulled on the jumpsuit on the floor. It was identical to Todd's, except someone had hastily sliced a hole for his tail. Much too high. He hurried around to the bed and pulled a blanket over himself while he picked at the cloth, trying to pull the seam apart low enough that he could actually put it on.

He finally got it to the point where his tail would go through. It still hurt to move and doing the chore by hand was a little easier, but he froze when he saw the heavily bandaged end. The heavy layer of gauze didn't hide the way it was sliced off. Pain was one thing, but pain would pass. He did everything with his tail. He might as well have lot fingers. Even if it healed cleanly, the scar tissue would make what was left less responsive. And quite aside from practical considerations, the sense of violation at losing a very visible part of himself was paralyzing.

Kurt swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and eased it through the hole he'd made. The gap in the jumpsuit went up his lower back thanks to the hurried hack job, the shoulders were tight, and the arms and legs were too short. Fantastic.

"Here."

He turned, wishing a little that Todd would shut up and let him be pathetic in every sense of the word. The other boy was standing stiffly, hand outstretched. It took Kurt's eyes a moment to catch up and resolve what he was looking at out of the orange tangle in Todd's palm. With threads pulled from the torn knees of his jumpsuit, he had braided a clever little cross hanging by a loop from a few knotty strands just long enough to go around Kurt's neck. "Oh."

"Need me to tie it on?"

"Ja, bitte." He pulled his dripping hair out of the way, eyes on the ground as he felt Todd kneel on the mattress behind him. He inhaled a little sharply as the other boy's fingers brushed the back of his neck. After tonight, being touched was a bit frightening, but as that visceral impression faded, he was glad for it. Kurt was physically affectionate by nature and so seldom got a chance to indulge himself. Contact was comfort when his capacity for trust wasn't in emergency shut-down mode.

He turned and caught Todd's hand before he turned away. "Vielen Dank, mein freund."

Todd held on so tight it almost hurt. "Bitty. ...Did I say that right?"

"Less wrong than usual." Still had that hand. "I shouldn't even worry, right? Our friends will find us and pull this place down around their ears. I mean, we do this kind of stuff all the time."

"Maybe you do," Todd countered, very glad that Kurt hadn't pulled away. "I'm straight-up freaked, yo."

"Oh." Well, he wasn't the only one scared. Maybe it wasn't absolute cowardice to be afraid when you were in an automated torture chamber that could be anywhere, held for unknown purposes by people who hated you, newly crippled. But not alone. He let their hands fall to the bed, relaxing his grip a little but keeping the contact.

They sat in silence for a while. Todd was the first to lie down, finally coming down from anger and finding that empty space underneath where he usually wound up when at his most hopeless. He was still, afraid Kurt would tell him to go back to his own bed to sleep. The amphibian in him always did seem to believe that staying quietly still would make every depressing reality go away, no matter how well he knew that was stupid.

But he didn't even let go of Todd's hand. After a few minutes, Kurt stretched out, too. He wasn't thinking about telling Todd to get up but switching the the other bed himself. After all, there was nothing about this bed that made it his. But he didn't want to move. Strange as this was, a little closeness was the only comfort they'd have here.


	20. Chapter 20

They were fast asleep side by side, Kurt's ruined tail resting on Todd's stomach, Todd's hand on Kurt's shoulder, blue-black and mouse-brown hair twisted together on the pillow, when the damn monitor went off again. "Subjects Omicron-11 and Tau-28, Instruction: Meals are available on the lighted tile in the northwest corner."

"I hate her so much," Todd muttered. Almost enough to claim he wasn't hungry, but he had no idea how long it had been since he'd eaten and his extremities were starting to be a little wobbly. He disentangled himself with a sigh and walked over to the delivery square.

After all, if he reacted any to waking up cuddled beside his stunning sapphire morsel, he was sure it wouldn't happen again. Normal rules definitely didn't apply right now, but pointing it out would shatter the fragile, unspoken contract. As long as it went on, he'd get to store up strange, soft moments like that for when his imagination needed fueling.

"What are they giving us?" Kurt asked, a hint of his usual lightness back in his tone. "Cafeteria food? I hope it's not sloppy joes."

He wasn't even acknowledging the way he'd woken up was strange. Trying to justify it risked failing that attempt, and then he wouldn't have a hand to grab onto next time terror overwhelmed his capacity to pretend to be Errol Flynn. It seemed like a much better use of his mental energy to shore up the thin veneer of cavalier unconcern.

"Boxes," Todd said simply. There were two of them; white, about the size of a soda can, featureless except for a little strip of foil on the top. "Want yours?"

"I guess I better have it. I apologize if it comes back up."

"Just aim somewhere other than me, Crawler." Once he'd picked up the boxes, the tile hummed and rearranged itself a bit until there were water bottles waiting in the same spot. He grabbed those and tossed one of each to Kurt. "Figure they're drugged?"

"Probably, Ja." Kurt peeled off the foil and his nose wrinkled. "I think it's Soylent Green."

Todd took an uncertain sniff and dribbled a bit onto his hand "Pink, actually."

"There is no soylent strawberry."

"Fool, I got no idea what you're talking about."

"Sorry." Kurt caught himself leaning back like he was trying to escape his own hand, steeled himself, and swallowed as much as he could from the awkward container at a go. It tasted like vaguely sweetened paste and managed to be gritty and gelatinous at the same time. "Yup. It's awful."

_Level 13: Environmental Control-Temperature_

_Level 14: Meal Supplement_

_Level 15: Full Meal Upgrade_

_Level 16: Entertainment-Two Film Options_

_Level 17: Entertainment-Five Film Options_

_Level 18: Entertainment- Ten Film Options_

_Subject Tau-28: Level 0 Subject Omicron-11: Level 1_

"Look, I'm a model prisoner."

"Shoot for the moon, yo. Just think, someday you might get ten movies to watch."

"What do you want to bet it's all the Police Academy movies, plus Plan 9 From Outer Space, Battlefield Earth, and the last Jaws?"

"Man, I know we're all kidnapped and tortured right now, but nobody's that evil." Todd dropped back onto the bed. "We had this when I was in kindergarten, too. See, everybody started on the rainbow, but if you were really good, you got your nametag on the sunshine, and if you were bad, you went on the raincloud. I was the raincloud master."

"Ja, you're a shady character," Kurt said with a distracted nod. "So what do you think we're here for? I don't think it's just mutant jail."

"Where y'think these came from, fool?" Todd pointed at his collar, but didn't touch it. He suspected that'd be a good way to find out what Level: -1 was like. "Testin' stuff on us. That's what's up here."

"Probably." The world's worst research and development. Kurt paused, then added, "That guy who made the Sentinels is here somewhere." If they now knew that Kurt had been awake and listening in the infirmary, then they were monitoring the bored conversation of teenagers. At least he knew they were getting what they deserved.

"Cripes." No more giant robots, please. "Vibro-collars are bad enough."

"Subjects Omicron-11 and Tau-28, Instruction: Remain on the bed while staff are inside the containment unit until indicated otherwise."

"I was starting to wonder when she was going to join in," Kurt sighed. He frowned, clearly considering trying something crazy, and slowly sat down, fluffing the pillow and setting it firmly in place. Kinda cute, trying to act like he was just doing what he felt like, not obeying a robot voice with the power to knock him down with an evil collar.

Todd opted to sprawl, himself. He looked damn lazy, but happened to know that he could jump from this position in a second in case he needed to make a bad decision. He couldn't help this protective streak, and, likely as it seemed to get his face stomped in, he didn't want to. Kurt was so lost without his clean-cut team of suckups buzzing around. Making sure he was okay was important.

The collection crew was the same as last night's delivery boys: a bunch of huge guys with guns and creepy helmets. That was clearly supposed to make them scarier, but Todd didn't actually like seeing people's faces much. He didn't get a lot out of it. "Yo," he said flatly, not bothering to look at them. He didn't have to, the way the walls reflected. It was easy to track them.

One of the goon squad turned a gun on him. "You first, mutie."

Alright, the voice did the job that the face-erasing helmet look did not. It was oddly distorted and flattened out. Not a person's voice. While Todd knew perfectly well that the technology was simple, he hadn't had good experiences talking to a robot lately, or ever, and the intimidation factor worked pretty well.

But he still looked more sulky than scared as he rolled lazily out of bed. The jumpsuit lacked any pockets to shove his hands in, so he crossed his arms over his chest, hunching comfortably even if they probably wouldn't let him just jump wherever they were going. "See yah, Crawler."

"Later, Toad." Kurt started to wave, had a gun shoved at him, and lowly lowered his hand. Todd marked which helmeted dude had made that particular threat. He was a little taller than the other three.

He was marched out into the hall of cells and two of the armed men walked with him, including the one who'd pointed a stupidly huge gun in Kurt's face. The other two walked in the other direction with the furball. Todd waited out the walk, shivering a little in the open, drafty space, taking note of the other confined mutants he could see. A lot less than last night. They must all be out getting their experiments done, too.

His attempts to keep track of the way in and out notwithstanding, he wasn't sure if the elevator they stepped into now was the one he'd come down in. A hallway full of see-through, identical rooms was a tough place to navigate. The elevator seemed to be going down, but he wasn't even sure of that, removed from any context like this.

"You hurt my Koala Bear and I'll kick your teeth through the back of your neck," he said, breaking the silence with a grin so crooked it was nearly sideways.

It was kind of a surreal moment. He didn't know he planned to say anything until his mouth was already open and running, and even as the words spilled out, he fully expected the butt of a gun to his head. That a few beats went by before the impact was a bit of a surprise, and so was the fact that the blunt trauma was to his shoulder.

Not that weird, though. They probably needed his brain intact. For electrodes and... stuff. Trixie would know.

Still, even if it wasn't his skull getting stomped, the guy was a lot stronger than he was, and Todd dropped onto one knee, ready to cower. He was still smiling, though. And it wasn't just the weird, brilliant thrill of consequences for doing something stupid for someone you cared about. That was pretty great, actually, but he was getting just as much out of having flustered the helmet dudes.

A helpless, de-powered, pathetic prisoner he might be, but no force in the world could keep Todd Mortimer Tolansky from being incredibly irritating.

They didn't hit him again. He probably wasn't very scary. Todd stayed on the floor until the elevator stopped and was quiet, if slow, as they ushered him along.

* * *

Kurt was nastily surprised at his first look outside the cube. Any illusion of safety inside the little cell was gone now that he'd seen the totally transparent walls out here, and he couldn't help imagining these creepy lunatics watching him collapse in a twitchy heap from the collar. Or shower. That was its own kind of terrible. Kurt's deep-seated terror of being seen as himself by unfriendly eyes and the usual insecurities of a slightly undergrown teenage boy combined in a jittery miasma that buzzed through his head far too insistently for him to try to get a look at the layout of the place. He eventually stepped into an elevator, but how far it was from his cell and any particular turns to get there were already forgotten.

He tried to be more observant, but by the time he'd really pulled himself together he was being marched into what looked like a tiny version of the danger room. All heavy, armored plates and insulation against everything from elephant attacks to ball lightening. But instead of being lined with high-tech weaponry and the central equipment that provided the holograms, it contained just a folding table, three chairs, and two other teenagers.

One, a boy Kurt pegged for eighteen or nineteen, affected a strained calm when the guards walked in with a fuzzy blue demon in tow. The girl was much younger, fourteen if that, and Kurt tried not to mind too much that she gasped and leaned back so far her chair almost tumbled over.

Without stopping to think about the guns behind him, he spread his hands and did his best to look friendly. He still didn't know a lot about kids, so he was basing this on what he'd learned from the Trixie onslaught of the past few months. "It's okay. I'm human, just a mutant." He didn't add, _like you_. He didn't have to. While she was ordinary in other respects, her hair was brilliantly green the way his was indigo. It didn't look much like dye.

She calmed down and even tried to smile. The guards were silent, so Kurt went ahead and took the empty chair. The muscle left them and a panel in the wall slid away to reveal... a black screen with writing scrolling down to the accompaniment of a female voice.

"Oh, good, I missed her," Kurt said acidly.

"Can't get away from the stupid bint," the boy beside him observed. He had an accent Kurt couldn't place. While the voice was still reading out their subject numbers (and that was somehow getting more creepy, not less), he held out a hand to shake. "I'm Sean. The shy lass is Lorna."

"Hello." She waved with just her fingertips from across the table. Above their heads, the screen stalled on simply telling them to avoid moving and wait for further instruction.

"Um, my friend and I have been using code names since we came in," Kurt said. It sounded silly now that he had to explain it. "So, um, they don't get any more information about us than we can help."

"That's a bit pointless," said Sean, at the same time Lorna piped up.

"Oh, what a good idea!" she said, a bit squeaky but pretty emphatic. "What's yours?"

"Nightcrawler."

"That's a kind of worm, mucker," Sean said with a smirk.

"Ja, my friends only explained that to me after I had the hang of it," he explained, not for the first time. "Why don't you pick one, Lorna?"

The girl considered for a moment, frowning in concentration. "Polaris."

"Huh?" Sean blinked a few times, echoing Kurt's own confusion.

"Polaris. The north star. It's immobile in the sky and it shows the way to freedom." She blushed a little. "I like astronomy."

"Hey, it beats the worm thing, right?" Kurt nodded his support. Once they'd all won through to freedom, he'd have to introduce her to Trixie. "So, um, do you two know what's going on?"

"We're a testing group," Sean explained. Kurt found that when he actually wanted to know what the laconically aloof boy was saying, he had to pay close attention. Accented English was hard. Where was he from? "I was in a different one before, but something happened to one of the others..." He glanced at the newly dubbed Polaris and shook his head. "They don't tell us much. Mostly we sit here and they try to get our powers to go off or do what they want."

"Sometimes it's not too bad," Polaris said with a sigh. "One day they even gave us a deck of cards to play with while they ran some program on the collars. It just tingled a little."

"And sometimes they make powers go nuts and it's just your bad luck if you're in the room." Sean scowled. "They want a few of us in here so they can see if whatever they're doing works on all mutants, and they're sealed up nice and tight up there, behind cameras and everything-proof walls."

Kurt was perfectly aware of the monstrousness of the arrangement, but he fastened onto the little ray of hope. "But we get our powers back sometimes?"

"Don't be a gack. Do you think they haven't thought of that? One, the collars will go off on us if you decide to try something clever. Two, if you're a sociopath and need another reason, they can fill this room with gas. Real fast."

Kurt nodded, trying to think. He wasn't a leader, so he tried to think of what Scott would do. He wasn't a tactician, either, and that was even harder to think. And he couldn't just ask Todd. They were being listened to the whole time, and for all he knew, they wouldn't even be put back in the same cell. How to plan an escape when you couldn't talk?

The one thing he was sure of was that he'd have to bide his time, or he'd put Todd and Sean and Lorna and all the other mutants at risk. They had hostages. Besides, he wouldn't know where he was going. But he was going to have access to his powers _sometime_ and he was a teleporter. It was a start.

* * *

Todd hated doctors. It was a personal thing in part. He'd never had a pleasant experience with a medical professional, had only ever been sneered at or lectured, whether pegged for a mutant or just a poor, grungy kid taking up resources and time. But there was also the oppressively sterile nature of their haunts, the creepy instruments, the fact that there was no hope of hiding while some weirdo shined lights in your ears. Not a Toad-friendly environment.

So he groaned when the jerks walked him into what was clearly an examination room. On one side, anyway. There were all the little bits of equipment, the tongue depressors and cotton balls and mysterious boxes. The other half was all weird monitors and wires. In the middle was what would have looked like a dentist's chair if Todd had ever actually been to a dentist.

"Do I get a lollipop?" The pressure of cold metal on the back of his neck made him shut up and get in the chair, which turned out to have cuffs for his wrists and ankles that were really cold and awkwardly shaped. He made sure to complain about it.

One of the helmeted goons left and the other stood at attention next to the door. He wasn't the one who'd shoved a gun in Kurt's face, so Todd ignored him, busy with trying to squirm into a position that was a little less uncomfortable. On top of everything else, the chair and restraints were definitely made with someone taller in mind, and he was either slipping or straining every direction he twisted.

When the door opened a few minutes later, Todd was trying to roll out his ankle and repeatedly bumping into the chair. It wasn't helping, and he was only keeping it up because stupid, endlessly looped behavior came easily and helped fill time.

The woman who entered was rather pretty, which Todd tended to allow for just about anyone female, and intimidating, though he couldn't put his finger on why. She almost certainly wasn't a mutant, she wasn't big or armed or even dressed in black with a lot of studs. The fact that he didn't know quite why she was scary made it worse, actually.

Just that he was secured to a table for her to poke at, maybe.

"Good morning," she said, like this wasn't even weird. She had just a bit of an accent and slightly unflattering glasses. Todd usually liked both Indian accents (there'd been a great little curry truck that had given him leftovers at the end of the day when he was eight) and silly eyewear. They were comforting. He wished that'd work now.

"Hey, scary mad science lady," he said, laying his cards on the table.

"Doctor Rao is fine." She smiled, and it looked like a real smile. That was what was so freaky, he realized. She really was acting like this shit was normal, and what kind of person thought talking to an imprisoned teenager there to experiment on was ok? "And you are Todd M. Tolansky. Father, Jacob B. Tolanksy, currently a roofer in Elizabeth, New Jersey, human. Mother, Jasmine Milholland, probable but unverified mutant—perhaps you can help us with that—living on welfare in Brooklyn. Sister, Patricia G. Sandoval, mutant. Do I make myself clear?"

"Trixie has a middle name? I am a bad brother, yo."

"Graciana, according to my paperwork. Any other thoughts you'd like to share?"

"Ma ain't a mutant, so you fuckheads can go ahead and leave her alone. She's got enough problems."

"Mm-hm?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Lady, I got no idea what you want, here." Mouthing off was fun, and if she actually did give him a little direction he'd probably resist, but he was clearly missing the subtext somewhere.

She looked irritated and disappointed, but that was an expression he was quite used to. "That information was no trouble for me to come up with. We'll call your school photos... distinctive looking. If I know the name and identity of your little sister despite the tenuous connection to you, don't you think I could easily direct a few of my staff to bring her along?"

Probably wouldn't be that easy, given she was an X-dweeb, but Todd didn't want to get into that argument. Useful information might sneak in there. "Yeah, yeah, I got that you were threatenin' a twelve year old. That's the easy part. But what the hell do yah want me to do about it? I'm already strapped to your table."

"Understand it. Think about it. Meditate if you must. Today I'll just be getting preliminaries and vitals, so you'll have plenty of time to just stare at the ceiling." She pulled a blood pressure cuff from the cabinet, frowned, and switched it out for a smaller one. "And then, as we finish our work today and I ask for your little boyfriend's full name, you can act accordingly."


	21. Chapter 21

It was a little hard for even gregarious Kurt to make conversation as they sat in the oppressive little room waiting for the experiments to start. Sean was grumpy and Polaris skittish, and Kurt was forced to admit he was still tired and in pain, and none of that led to talking much after they'd given him the basics.

It was too warm, while the cells had been too cold and he'd gotten used to that over... whatever number of hours he'd slept. There were weird drafts, too. His fur kept prickling in funny directions. Whenever he thought of a funny way to phrase a complaint, he'd remember that Todd wasn't here and neither of his current companions seemed likely to get his jokes.

It was almost a relief when Sean's collar beeped and little red lights sparked to life all along the rim. "Oh, nice, they gave us a bit of warning today. Cover your ears, kids."

"Why?" Kurt asked, but all he got was a glare. Polaris not only covered her ears but rolled under the table. He figured it might be best to follow her, but he wasn't quite quick enough. The noise seemed to shoot between the small gap in his fingers and hammer right through his skull. It was more like a physical blow than sound, and even as his head pounded it knocked him to the ground, clutching his ears desperately. It didn't do much good. The smooth, armored walls reflected the sound waves back and forth until the blows seemed to come from every direction. The whole room shook and he couldn't get his footing. The table was on its side and Polaris was curled behind it, but she didn't look like she felt much better than he did. He didn't think it was worth uncovering his ears to get up and join her.

Kurt tried to bring his tail up to cover one ear, figuring he still had half the tip and it would be a little extra insulation. It still hurt too much to allow anything like his usual control, though, and when he lifted it from the relative protection of his body and into the sound-battered air, the smoldering pain burst into fire.

He gave up on trying to get away and slumped where he was. He turned his eyes toward Sean, who seemed to be almost as badly off, red faced and wobbly, clinging to his chair with his jaw locked open. The tiny part of this overwhelming force that Kurt really experienced as sound didn't seem to be a human voice, but hell, he was blue and fuzzy. Who was he to judge.

He had no idea how much time had passed when it was over. It felt like hours, probably was minutes at most. Sean slumped and nearly fell out of his folding chair. Polaris poked her head up over the edge of the fallen table like a curious, green groundhog. Kurt crawled a few feet to the nearest wall and sat against it.

"Well, that was fun," he said, breaking the silence. His voice sounded far away and floaty.

"Ear's bleeding, Nightcrawler," Polaris said, obviously speaking loudly though it didn't sound like it. "That'll happen. Sorry, we should have warned you."

Kurt raised his hand to check. Yup. Wonderful. He'd always thought he had too much blood. Gingerly, he picked up his tail to check for new damage. The bandage was still there, but there were new red stains. He shook his head, regretted it, and tried to think. "So they don't want mutants gone so much as with on and off buttons?"

"I'm pretty sure there's some dissent in the ranks," Sean said hoarsely. "They're a big fan of me. Almost never let Lorna go."

"Polaris," the girl said firmly. Kurt was a bit touched that she'd fastened onto the idea so firmly. "They're definitely scared of my powers, though. The last time they flipped that switch on me, um, we all got a few days in drug testing while they rebuilt the room."

Kurt was impressed, though it was hard to find a way to express that when everything was pain. "What's your trick, then?"

"I'm kind of telekinetic, but only for metal? I guess that doesn't make much sense." She frowned. "I can sense it, too. Reach out and grab it. I can even fly with it, sort of. As long as there's something in the right part of the periodic table, I can push off it. Though it's easier when I have some myself. When I was at home I kept ball bearings in my pockets and files in my shoes." The frown let in a small smile. In spite of everything, she was proud of her powers.

And Kurt was a little curious, he had to admit. He knew of some near-duplicates in terms of powers, of course. He lived with Jean and Professor Xavier and he'd been witness to Sabretooth and Logan. And while there were pairs like Scott and Alex or Todd and Trixie whose abilities seemed to fit right in a family tree, there were also Wanda and Pietro or Ororo and Evan. That she had Magneto's powers precisely didn't _have_ to mean anything, but...

Well, he wouldn't try to bring it up. Not with creepy scientists listening and the fact that it was probably a delicate subject to bring up to a girl who didn't yet have freshman English under her belt.

"That's cool," he said instead, with all the enthusiasm he could muster. "So, um, is that going to happen again soon?"

"I think they take readings and shite. They want to know what it does to people, not just what they can make me do." Sean flashed Kurt's favorite rude gesture toward the ceiling. Kurt followed suit.

"That a German thing, too?"

"Nein, I just don't really have a middle finger. It's the best I've got."

"It's like this? A backwards peace sign?" Polaris asked, holding up her own effort.

"Bang on, lass." Sean's collar began to light up again. "Oops. Guess they didn't like that."

This time, Kurt got behind the table.

* * *

Todd wasn't very good at picking a method of defiance in the face of torture. One moment he was determined to be quiet. Constantly, eternally saying nothing, whatever she did to tick him off or bait him, until she went nuts. The next, he thought it might be a good idea to just blather constantly and annoy the hell out of her that way, make sure that any bit of information she might want was wrapped in so many layers of stupid insult and pointless blather that she'd never get anything out of him. Sometimes he just wanted to complain.

He wasn't exactly being tortured, here, either. The chair was really uncomfortable, but she didn't usually try to stop him wiggling, and it wasn't going to kill him. He'd tried to rest in more unpleasant places. She took blood a few times, which he objected to, and stuck a couple wires on him. He expected that to be kind of cool, if terrifying, but it turned out that these wires, at least, just stuck onto the skin with fancy tape. And that to get them in the right place required a lot of poking and that a few inches be shaved, which was far more embarrassing than it was frightening.

Altogether, being a captive lab rat was a lot less interesting than he felt it should be. And he did find his mind veering over and over back to Trixie and Kurt. Kurt's family was across an ocean, and they were his _adoptive_ parents, so no one would think they were secretly mutants, too. Probably. And while Kurt's secret identity thing was definitely really important to him, it wasn't more important than the safety of a little girl. Was it? What did it do to the equation when that little girl had the protection of the freaking X-men? And that people who'd kidnap random mutants would probably not keep promises to stop doing that in a specific case?

Whenever he thought too much about who he was going to have to betray, he tried to pay attention to Dr. Rao instead, but she made it hard. She was as detached and boring as the experiments she was doing. Sometimes she'd turn on a radio to a soft rock station with exactly no personality, and it must have been that fancy-ass satellite radio, because it never seemed to break for weather or commercials, which at least might tell him about where they were. When she wasn't in the mood for bland music, she worked quietly, occasionally telling him to move in some particular way with all the passion of a lunch monitor.

Just when he thought he'd have to scream or faint or _something_ to keep from going nuts, she shuffled a bunch of papers together with a businesslike snap and smiled. "You have some very interesting variants on your physiology, Mr. Tolansky. You won't be working with me often; you're mostly slated for drug testing. But I am a bit intrigued, and you'd think I'd be jaded by now."

"Yeah, that's sad for you, lady."

"But, of course, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's session."

"Lemme guess. You get Nightcrawler."

"He's a fascinating little horror, I must say. A preliminary scan shows essentially nothing that's identifiably human. All the work of one little gene."

"Yup, he's pretty cool."

"Young love," she said flatly. Todd glared at her, but he wasn't arguing. Considering they doubtless had footage of him and Kurt sharing a bed when there were two in the room, he didn't think it was worth it. "And I thought it was stomach turning when there were normal people involved."

Todd imagined spitting slime in her smug face. It helped, but it made him miss having access to his powers more. "So what drugs am I testin'?" If she felt like being chatty, he could take advantage, right?

"Chemical ways to mimic the collars, mainly. They have some unpleasant long-term health effects that modulated doses might help us avoid."

"Why all the science?" He had to ask. "You just wanna get rid of us, yeah? An' that collar don't turn K-Crawler into a vanilla human, it just keeps him from doin' his extra trick. There's easier ways, right?"

"Teenagers. Everything must be black and white." She shook her head. "This base is constructed around combining resources and doing what we can. We don't all have the same end game. What I'm working toward is a cure, and until gene therapy technology improves, treating the symptoms is the best I can do."

"A cure. You crazy bitch." He was extra angry because some small part of him latched onto the idea in an entirely different way. If it weren't for his mutation, after all, his dad might not have walked out, he might have had a family that worked, he might have been able to at least fasten onto the other rejects at school, actually been able to find a girlfriend...

But the guy whose life went right? He didn't know that guy. It sure as hell wasn't him. His hands and tongue and slime might be to blame for every shit thing that happened to him, but they _were_ him. Maybe someone who was just normal plus the power to blow things up could lose it and keep themselves, but not him.

Suddenly, the lack of access to slime to spit was cause for panic, not a temporary setback. He'd been thinking in terms of obstacle and escape, but if Doctor Crazy had her way, he'd just be gone.

"I'm not arguing with a seventeen year old. We'll talk again soon. And do think about K-Crawler this evening, won't you?" She pushed a button and the gun guy (who'd been switched out once while Todd was in the chair, but who sure as hell seemed like the same dude) kept the weapon on him while Dr. Rao unstrapped him.

He was too perturbed to make trouble for his guard on the way back to his cell. Once they were in the hall of glass boxes, he looked into each one. A lot of these people were obviously mutants. He saw scales and weird colors and even a set of wings like a dragonfly's. Their lives, like his, had to be built around what they were. Maybe some of them would be glad to give it up, but he couldn't be the only one who felt cold at the idea of having his power permanently stripped. And some of the ones who could pass for normal must live by their powers. He sure as hell couldn't conceive of Pietro without his speed.

He shuffled into his cell, sort of glad that he was back before Kurt. He wanted to be alone for a while.

Without a clock or a window, Todd found himself measuring time by the way it felt. Enough of it went by for him to find a place to keep his fear and anger over the premise of a _cure_ and start being worried before Kurt stumbled in.

Kurt took two uncertain steps toward the bed, registered Todd out of the corner of his eye, and decided to take a stab at explaining. "I can't hear anything," he said, not sure how loud his voice was coming out. Too loud, from the way Todd winced. He dropped it down a little. "Sorry. Um, the guy I was in with today has... screaming powers, and they triggered them about ten times. I might be deaf now."

Todd nodded, frowned, and said something. The constant whine in Kurt's ears was slightly modulated, maybe, but there was no chance of actually making out what he was saying. "Nein, not working. Can't hear you." Todd was quiet a moment, then tapped his ear and raised his eyebrows. Kurt followed the movement to his left ear, which had bled a bit since the first time. "Oh, ja, that. It hurts, but there isn't much to do about it. Und my entire body is one big bruise, so I think I'll just pass out." Todd shrugged and threw him a thumbs up. Kurt crawled into the bed and sprawled on his stomach, too tired to care how much he hurt.

But before he could get to sleep, Todd poked him. He thought about ignoring it, but that didn't seem like a good idea. He raised his head and Todd pointed to the screen. Small blessings. He couldn't hear that irritating voice telling him to get in the shower.

Kurt rolled off the bed, kicked his jumpsuit off and toward the glowy square, and braced himself in case the collar went off to punish him for keeping the little thread cross around his neck. After a moment, when nothing happened, he hurried to get under the hot water. The antiseptic smell was annoying, but he was a mess and the heat soothed some of his bumps and bruises. He managed to just not think about the transparent walls, and he moved away only reluctantly when the water shut off.

Then hurried the best he could through getting dressed. This jumpsuit was too loose, but the tail hole was in the right place. He might have surrendered to this particular indignity, but he still hated the sense of exposure.

Todd only looked up from his pillow when the shuffling noise stopped. _He_ better not lose his hearing. He glanced quickly over, established that Kurt was on the bed and dressed, and reluctantly walked over to the corner. He was halfway there when the robot bitch piped up. He flipped off the screen.

"I learned today that might not be the best idea," Kurt said, too loudly again and with an uncharacteristically bitter smile.

"Whazzat mean?" Todd kept moving while he asked, forgetting to keep his face toward Kurt.

"Are you talking? I can kind of tell now, but I can't make anything out."

"You are so goddamn attractive it ain't fair an' yer hair smells good."

"Still nothing, mein freund."

He was sure to not smile until he turned away to undress. So one thing about this might not suck. Todd was still pissed about the shower thing, though. He hadn't even done anything today. He still smelled like disinfectant and itched from last time. He did not need more damn showering. It was almost worth the collar getting pissed at him, but hot water and nasty soap won out over agony by a narrow margin.

He hopped away from the shower and tugged on the jumpsuit the moment the water stopped. The room was unpleasantly cold and for the first time, he actually thought about earning those points for good behavior. Getting to turn the heat up would make a big difference in his comfort when he had no choice but to be wet and wear a flimsy bit of polyester. In the sewer or the boarding house when the gas bill hadn't been paid, he could have at least layered on a couple sweatshirts.

Arms crossed sullenly across his chest, he walked to the second bed. Kurt looked like he'd fallen asleep. Lucky him. Todd had hoped he'd get a chance to explain the thing with his identity and the threat to his sister, not to mention the mutant cure crap. He was pretty sure Kurt would say that he should tell, or maybe that they were definitely lying about Trixie being safe if he blabbed, or _something_ that would make the decision for him. Decisions sucked.

It wasn't something he could try to communicate through vague gestures. And trying to do that at all made him angry. He wasn't at all clear on what they'd been doing with his koala bear all day, but it made him want to kick some scientists and thugs really hard. He was almost glad the doctor lady claimed Kurt was with her tomorrow. If it was anything like his session, at least she wouldn't hurt him.

Todd realized he was watching Kurt sleep and had been for a while. The part of him that listened to his sister informed him that it might be creepy. He rearranged himself, turning a bit to the side, clutching his pillow to his chest and leaning against the cold wall. This way he could steal a quick glance at Kurt every so often, but he wouldn't be a total skeez about it.

He was particularly cute curled up like that, and he looked small. The urge to go over and push the wet hair out of his face, maybe whisper something into the more damaged ear, was unnervingly strong. Apparently the Toad was losing it already.

He jumped at a beep from the screen. It took him a moment to come back to earth, but he caught on eventually that dinner was here. He was fairly hungry and he didn't think Kurt had even finished his box of slime, so he didn't even think about defying the current instructions. Instead of white boxes, he found what looked like really lousy TV dinners, even by his standards. The contents of the trays faintly resembled Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Not Mrs. Wagner's cooking, but a lot better than he'd expected, actually. And it was hot, so he shouldn't let Kurt sleep.

"Hey, wake up, fool." He'd hoped that would work, but wasn't surprised when it didn't. "Oy. Nightcrawler." Nothing. He gave up and poked Kurt's shoulder.

"Mmph?"

"Dinner."

"Huh?" Kurt smiled weakly. "Oh, hey, I heard you say something. I just don't know what it was."

Todd tried not to wince. Talking too loud. He pointed at the little cardboard tray in his hand and Kurt sat up, overbalanced, and barely kept from slumping back onto the bed. "Oops. Eardrums just aren't working, I guess." He tried for a self-deprecating smile, but his eyes betrayed fear.

Todd held out the tray and made sure it was firmly in Kurt's hands before he let go. He hopped onto the bed and sat down while Kurt puzzled over the flimsy plastic spork that had to be pulled out of the cover. He ate comically quickly once he worked out the weird utensil.

"You got a screwy metabolism, man," Todd observed. He was attempting slow bites to make it last longer, a method he wasn't great at. Especially when it wasn't the kind of food he really wanted in his mouth for long.

"I what?"

"Oh, hey, I think you got a word in there."

Kurt finally looked up from the empty tray at him, and Todd raised an eyebrow when he broke into a real smile. Something about the subtly sharp teeth, brilliantly white against the deep blue... But. Not immediately relevant. Why the grinning? "What?"

"You have the same hair as your sister when it's clean und dry," Kurt said, snickering. "It's fluffy." He reached over quite suddenly and tousled Todd's hair. "Entschuldigung. I'm sure it isn't that funny. I'm tired and I spent all day being attacked by sound."

It was pretty fortunate for Todd that Kurt didn't even try to hear his response, as it didn't consist of any actual words, just disorganized stammering. There was no reason this kind, silly gesture should shoot to the core of him, a white-hot tongue of fire that warmed him in spite of everything. Kurt was always easy with touch, and after the way he'd woken up, Todd hadn't expected any more shocks like this. But logic hardly had anything to do with this, and he had to look away to hide the telltale look Trixie had warned him about.

Kurt had already moved on, dropping his tray on the tile, grabbing their water, almost bashing his head straight into the wall. Moron. Todd looked away to pretend he hadn't seen the embarrassing loss of balance, and took the opportunity to see what Kurt was talking about in the smoky reflection that looked back at him from every wall.

It was definitely not _as_ fluffy as Trixie's, but then, he didn't have some kind of crazy nanostructures mutated into his hair, so that made sense. It was kind of poofy and curlier at the ends was all. He didn't think the difference was that big, but if Kurt liked it, then maybe hot water wasn't _that_ bad. He finished the last bite of his dinner, tossed the trash to its designated spot, and dropped onto the bed with his drink.

He wasn't sure if Kurt would get up or tell him to. He hoped not. Todd wasn't even sure if this was the bed they'd slept in last time. Being surrounded by mirrors was really disorienting. He suspected that had been a fluke, and when he felt a tug, he started to get up. Time to be kicked back across the room.

"Get off the blanket. It's cold."

Surprised, he scooted up toward the pillow so Kurt could pull the blanket out. They'd both been too tired to bother before, but it hadn't felt as cold before, either. (Was it too paranoid to think that the thermostat was being used to make them just a little crazier?) Todd wanted to suggest pushing the beds together or at least grabbing the other pillow and blanket, but he was pretty sure that even an oblique acknowledgment of what they were doing would end it, so he just lay back down. Without being so bone-tired, two bodies crammed onto a narrow, squishy mattress without even being against a wall seemed like it would be uncomfortable.

He found he didn't care much once Kurt settled in beside him. Even if he couldn't find a comfortable way to sleep, this would be a pretty okay night. There was just a hint of the Kurt smell under the lingering antiseptic reek. Allowing for the tons of concrete and terrifying security above his head, the possibility of having his powers "cured" or being interred here forever, the food and conditions lousy even by his Morlock standards, Todd was feeling pretty good.

Kurt, less so. His teasing and stupid jokes had been edging on hysteria all night, and it wasn't just his hopefully temporary deafness that drove his voice up. Part of the problem was that he was used to his hearing being good and his balance impeccable, and screwed up ears rewrote his relationship with the world in a disorienting way. He felt trapped in his own head. Not being able to teleport was upsetting, but he'd dealt with that before. Not being able to correct his movements in a nanosecond as he hurled himself from high places? That was scary.

And worrying about that felt selfish. What about Sean, who'd been gasping and practically unconscious when they were all marched out the that room? Sweet, tough little Lorna, looking ill but refusing an arm for support. All the mutants here. Todd, whose day he knew nothing at all about. He was the only X-man handy, and that made it his job to save them.

Save them? He couldn't even sit up without lurching in random directions.

The cold suddenly bothered him. Kurt tried to move so the shared blanket would come up to his chin and bumped into Todd. "Sorry." Twitchy. He was twitchy. Needed to calm down and get a little rest...

Todd squeezed his shoulder and said something he couldn't make out. (It happened to be "You're kinda adorable when you freak, Care Bear," but he didn't get a word.) His friend looked diminished and tired, probably almost as bad as he did, and the creepy light and mirrors made it worse. Kurt twisted his head to bury his face in the pillow.

The hand that ran down his hair and stopped between his shoulder blades was surprisingly strong. It was too easy to think of Todd as weak instead of wiry. His legs might have been inhumanly strong, but the rest of him was almost a match. Kurt felt muscles relax that he hadn't known he was clenching. He didn't hear the soft sound that came out when he sighed.

Watching Kurt calm down like a spooked kitten soothed by petting was actually pretty awesome. Todd kept it up as long as it seemed like he could get away with it, running his fingers through the fine hair and down slim shoulders. As long as this lasted, nothing mattered but the chance to be deliciously greedy, soaking up the sensation. Last time he'd stolen a touch, it had been cold and hollow and left him feeling like more of a loser, but right now Kurt wanted him to do it. He didn't dare think about what that meant, but it changed a meaningless-if-pleasant tactile experience into something fantastic.

When Kurt's breathing evened out, Todd didn't hesitate to curl up close to him. Let the boy wonder be everyone else's hero. The Toad would just worry about taking care of him.


	22. Chapter 22

Kurt didn't mind the computer's voice for once, because he could hear it. She sounded like she was talking from somewhere far away, and probably underwater, but he could follow. When he'd extracted himself from the blanket and the arm Todd had thrown over him sometime while they were sleeping, he stuck his tongue out at the screen before he moved to pick up the boxes of pink slime. Which he supposed were probably some kind of protein shake, but it was a little more fun to think of them as horrible dystopian food-substitutes.

"Ready for your edible gak?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yipee." Todd sat up and rubbed at his eyes. He had bedhead, which probably wouldn't have been possible with the old helmet of grease in place. Kurt found he was still amused by the difference a couple showers in a row made. "Toss it."

Kurt took an extra moment to gauge the distance, but he made the throw closely enough for Todd to catch. His sense of place was still off, though he was no longer off kilter just from moving. It was also weird to see Todd use his hands instead of his tongue, now that he thought about it. "I'll have to try and actually finish this stuff. Being hungry all day didn't help."

"Yeah, wouldn't figure it did. Just swallow quick."

"That's what she said."

Todd wasn't sure if that was intentional absurdity or Kurt hadn't thought it through, but it was kind of funny either way. He snickered. Kurt smiled thinly and then made a show of holding his nose and chugging the whole nasty mess. Todd's laugh was loud enough for him to catch.

"Okay, so, before they drag us off, couple things you gotta hear while we got your ears workin'," Todd said as Kurt tossed the package aside.

"Ja?"

"Subjects Omicron-11 and Tau-28, Instruction: Remain on the bed while staff are inside the containment unit until indicated otherwise."

"Freaky how bad her timin' is." Todd dropped onto the bed. No chance for treading quietly. "One, they wanna know who you actually are an' they're sayin' they'll go after Trixie if I don't tell. Two, there's a doctor here who thinks she's gonna cure mutants of bein' mutants."

Kurt stared at him a moment, then nodded. "Tell them."

"Prolly they won't even leave her alone if I talk, y'know."

"Ja, but..." He'd done plenty of damage trying to protect Kurt Wagner's name from association with the blue, teleporting X-man. The casualties here could be worse than his friends' feelings.

Before he was forced to elucidate any of that, the guards entered and they both shut up, shooting each other tight smiles as they were marched away.

Kurt couldn't help tripping occasionally as he tried to keep pace with their long strides. He was still wobbly. This better not last too long. He could do without hearing if his balance would just correct.

Though he hadn't paid too much attention yesterday, he was pretty sure they were going in another direction. He was only a little surprised when they stepped into a room that looked like a dentist's office crashed into Forge's lab. When prodded, he got into the chair. The straps on his wrists were just nasty, but the ones meant for his ankles didn't allow for digitigrade feet. The guards couldn't figure out how to get him strapped in, and they eventually used those zip-tie things to awkward effect. It was uncomfortable, but after yesterday's bruising, it wasn't more than a nuisance.

He slumped in the chair, humming tunelessly to see if he could test where his hearing was, and the single guard who remained stood at attention. In a strange way, this was his first chance to really think since his arrival here. There was nothing he could be doing, tied up and collared as he was, and no Todd to take up his attention or offer comfort. Just him and his head and relatively mild pain, all things considered.

It was time, he decided, to stop being the victim. He still thought the X-men would be coming for him, the Brotherhood and even the Morlocks for Todd. It had only been... Well, he wasn't sure how long. Two days. Ish. Even with Cerebro and Wolverine's shady paramilitary contacts, if this place was hidden well, it could take a while just to locate them and then the team would need an attack plan.

That was a comforting thought, but it didn't absolve him of responsibility. The mutant captives here could easily turn into hostages, and protecting them was what he'd plan for.

Plans that Todd would be better at making. That he wanted Scott to lead, Jean to implement, Rogue to critique, Kitty to come up with her goofy ideas that were always so oddly clever... But no. Just him, and if he ended up cringing and miserable like he'd been last night, he'd never get it done.

Resolve was nice, but before he'd actually started working out what his awesome, X-Men-worthy scheme would be, the door opened and a woman in glasses and a lab coat entered. Was this the doctor Todd had tried to warn him about? He didn't like her anyway, just for being here, but the idea horrified him as much as it did his friend.

She spoke, but she did it quietly and he didn't get the first half. "-call you?"

"I hate you," he said lightly, though he was probably still speaking too loudly and it might spoil some of the politeness he was trying to affect. Courteously rebellious. He thought it worked. "Also I still can't hear that much thanks to what you lunatics pulled yesterday."

"Sorry. Is this better?" She spoke quite clearly this time, and he thought he recognized her voice as the one he'd heard in the infirmary on the way in. "Now, what do you want me to call you, little mystery?"

He told himself that if he gave up his name it'd take away Todd bargaining power to protect Trixie. He probably wasn't quite that high-minded, though. "It's Nightcrawler, danke."

"Bitte. Try and relax, please. I need to get vitals and some basic readings, and I'm afraid you've done yourself some damage."

"_I've_ done myself damage?" Now he was just indignant.

"Aside from the tail, individual injury is very serious, but the composite result isn't doing you any good. I'd have stopped my esteemed colleague putting you in with the howling banshee yesterday if I'd noticed the assignment in time, but, to be frank, you creep him out."

He wished she wouldn't bring up his tail. "What, me? I'm adorable."

"You're something out of a nightmare. Particularly the nightmares of an unbalanced zealot like that." She fitted a blood pressure cuff on him. Kurt had had a lot of check-ups lately what with worries over his teleporting and the weight loss after his misadventure (damn, he'd probably undone all that progress). This cuff was designed a little differently. Probably to get on people who were strapped to a chair. He could only spare a little anger for that.

At least the nightmare thing didn't have much sting in its tail. He didn't mind freaking out a mutant hater even the other mutant haters found a little much.

"I must admit, I find you a bit interesting. I haven't done anything with biophysics since an undergraduate internship, but I know people who would be fascinated. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say you look like a giant lemur."

Given the things he'd been called, that was oddly benign, actually. He almost would have liked the idea if it had come from a friendly source. Lemurs were pretty cool. He just blinked confoundedly at her for a moment.

"Not the actual, extinct giant lemur. A modern arboreal lemur, sized up. Very odd." She pulled off the cuff and made some notes, then produced a large, angry looking needle. He winced but didn't give her the satisfaction of a complaint. _Note to self, never trust a sociopath just because she's talking about cute dog-monkey-squirrel things._

"Is there any chance the skin under the fuzz is a normal color?" Kurt barely had time to figure out how to be offended by the weird question before she rubbed the fur on his arm the wrong way, revealing the dark blue skin underneath. "Of course not. Finding a vein is going to be a delight."

He couldn't help trying to lean away from her. Affectionate touching was great; unwanted contact had never brought him anything but disaster and the urge to get away was written as deeply into his brain as breathing and making bad jokes. Besides, he didn't like the sound of that. "What do you need a vein for?"

"For now? A routine blood sample. But I'm glad for the sake of efficiency that you aren't slated for drug testing." She set down the needle and came back with a disposable razor.

Kurt thought of Todd and his theory of throwing people off by the sheer power of being a little too strange for them to know what to do with you. This woman was a master of the art herself, and Kurt found himself just quietly trying to think about other things while she stripped off a few inches of fur on his inner elbow. She didn't even nick him, which he'd have thought unavoidable given the funny texture and density of his fur. If she'd hurt him he'd have known what to complain about, but as it was he just quietly put up with the invasion until she finished. The needle was actually a relief.

"Get used to that. We'll be working with electrodes later."

* * *

Todd was pretty well behaved on the way to wherever they were going. Just trying something new. He was hoping that standing still and not saying anything sarcastic like a good boy might bore them into letting their attention wander, and he could... Eh, he didn't know. Something. Maybe he just wanted a break from hurling himself repeatedly against the bug zapper of authority.

But the guards actually did their job, to his dismay, and he didn't accomplish anything but making their day easier before they reached a long, narrow room that seemed to be the economy-size version of Dr. Rao's lab. Lots of flunkies in lab coats, lots of mutants in orange shackled to chairs. Todd joined them with a sigh.

To his left was a big counter piled with medical equipment that he didn't really want to spend time looking at. To the right was another chair with another prisoner. She was more appealing. Normally he just assumed girls didn't want to talk to him, but she probably didn't have anything else to do, and she was funnier looking than he was.

Not in a bad way. In fact, if he weren't pretty busy emotionally, he might have been too bashful to talk to her. Her skin was scaled and patterned like a snake's and her short, haphazardly cut black hair into a sweet, heart-shaped face. Sweet if you didn't find reptiles alarming. Which Todd did, a bit, but he'd never minded alarming.

He waited until no one was standing too close. "Hey."

"Hiya." She smiled. A tired smile, but it seemed honest. "You look new, hoss."

"How do you tell?"

"Might be that look ain't the right word," she said with the abbreviated shrug her restraints allowed. "Smell. You smell new. This thing took my pheromones, but not my nose."

Todd nodded. He was pretty confident that he could still jump over someone's head or kick through drywall if he needed to, and that Kurt would be up to leaping around like a spastic monkey if they ever let him recover enough. "Where you from?"

"Out west. Thought I'd make my fortune in the big city, and there's one bigger than all the rest, huh?" This smile was a lot more bitter than the last one. "So, uh, don't have to ask about you."

Country girl in the big apple? That was a rough enough story to begin with, but he didn't exactly believe her about seeking her fortune. With skin like that, chances were good she'd run away without a plan and decided that running more was a good substitute for action. He knew that feeling. "They pick you up in the City, then?"

"Should of listened when they said not to go in Central Park at night. Mean a little rattler as I can be, they were faster than I could bite."

Todd guessed she'd been repeating that a while. Sounded like a line she didn't want to let go of. He let her have it. "Could'a toldja that, sister."

"Unless you're a lot richer than you sound, city boy, I wouldn't have mentioned to you where I was going."

Yeah, he could have guessed that. It still skeeved him, since she looked younger than he was, but it wasn't a surprise. "I'm Toad."

"X-Stacy."

Huh? "...You used to be Stacy an' now you ain't?"

"No, dumbass. It's a pun. X-Stacy. Like ecstasy."

"That stuff for raver kids?" Boom-boom had tried to convince him she had some and he should try it once. He'd ruined her fun by identifying the pills as baby aspirin.

"Never mind."

Oh, well, he could live with being a dumbass. "So they don't care if we talk?"

"Not really. They can always zap us if we start yelling for revolution. Small talk ain't really worth their time."

But when a young man in a labcoat walked up and began prepping Stacy (he was just gonna go ahead and call her Stacy) for an IV, Todd found it was hard to carry on conversation. She was busy gritting her pointy teeth and glaring, and he opted to be quietly angry for her, too. Poor kid. She'd had enough rough stuff already.

* * *

Kurt was tired. They'd been at this for hours and Dr. Rao had stopped really bothering to talk to him a long time ago. The chair held him at an angle that precluded much relaxing, too, so his back was stiff. It was weird to feel the same way about being a lab rat that he did about seventh period.

"How much longer are you going to need me?" he finally asked. He sounded unavoidably petulant.

"Not long, but I'll need you back. I couldn't get the X-ray today. I understand they tried to use it on someone with... unique blood chemistry. It's being repaired." She spoke as mildly as if she were just setting up a future appointment. "You'll be back with your boyfriend soon, don't worry."

"Was?" That was just _weird_. It was such a playground taunt he'd have ignored it from any other source, but the doctor had gone to a lot of trouble to be prim and dispassionate.

"What, am I supposed to be horrified? I can't say I approve, but I'm not going to rant about you kids today and your music and your X-boxes."

Kurt's _he's not my boyfriend_ died on his tongue. There was no way to say it without whining, and on one level why would he even dignify it with a response? Even after a few years in high school he was a little perplexed by random insults, but this didn't even seem to count. And, if he wasn't mistaken, she wasn't aiming to taunt him. She hadn't smiled or so much as particularly inflected the word.

"Or was it a secret? Better not to sleep together on camera, then. Don't worry. I can't tell your mother, after all. Not that I expect she has anything to do with you." _Now_ she was trying to make him feel bad, smiling and adding a sickening sweetness to her voice. So what was that before?

"She dropped me in a river," Kurt said, inspired. Mystique was the perfect smokescreen. He wouldn't have any trouble keeping his story straight, since it was true. He didn't have to worry about her getting targeted and captured. She could take care of herself. And he wouldn't have to try to act. Thinking about her left him exactly as upset and confused as one would expect.

Todd was going to tell, of course, but a little layer of confusion on top might help.

He was pretty sure it had worked. She seemed satisfied about _something_, even as she slipped back into quiet and businesslike. "All right, one more resting blood pressure and you'll be done. How's the tail?"

"Lousy."

"To be expected, I suppose."

He ignored her, mind pulled back unwillingly to the stupid... boyfriend thing. He shouldn't care any more than if she'd suggested he ate worms, but it was still confusing. He supposed she might actually have meant it. He and Todd _were_ sharing the bed. Just because it was cold, though, and because they were so vastly alone that it helped to have someone at your back.

But Kurt wasn't really given to denial, and he was the first to admit he didn't have a lot of experience with these things. His instincts for people were good, but he was still learning group dynamics after fourteen years in near-isolation. And the fact was that he hadn't thought twice about Amanda before a couple of giggling girls had informed him on the way to lunch that she, like, totally was asking him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance.

Actually, given his and Amanda's temperaments, without her friends' prompting and the emboldening excuse of a dance everyone expected to be silly, they'd probably have gone on without having much to say to each other. He wasn't necessarily the sharpest tack in the box.

And he didn't need that experience to be a bit romantically suggestible, though it certainly helped reinforce a natural tendency. Growing up thinking that no one would ever want to touch him would do that. The idea that someone was sweet enough to be attracted to _him_ was definitely a suggestion that they deserved his affections back.

Kurt mulled it over all the way back to the cell, rather glad for the scary helmets since it let him pretend he was alone.

He didn't care at all that Todd was male. He'd restricted his awkward, scattershot flirting to girls because that was normal, and because no one needed an extra reason to beat him up. When he was seven, he'd never been able to decide whether he should marry Batman or Buffy the Vampire slayer, and his parents hadn't had anything helpful to add except smiles he'd found entirely too smug to be patient with. That wasn't a big deal.

And he'd gotten over the Brotherhood thing. And the Toad thing, which was a little different. Todd was his friend, his companion in a hell of a lot of disasters now, his backup, his reality check, his sidekick. He just never would have thought of a... crush... thing without prodding, and his thinking resisted readjustment.

Kurt was distressed to find the cell empty when he was returned. Todd was still out there having needles stuck in him. But being alone for a little while wasn't exactly a bad thing. The computer lady sent him into the shower immediately today, and he was too busy being unsettled to really mind. He did note with some amusement that the jumpsuit that popped up to replace the one he'd kicked off was the one with the hole that went most of the way up his back. Recycling!

He dropped onto one of the beds face-first, not physically tired but mentally drained. He was immediately struck by the memory of a strong, solid hand running through his hair, coming to rest between his shoulder blades.

The sudden shiver that shot through him cinched it. He'd been stupid for not realizing, stupid edging on cruel, and now...

God in heaven, what _was_ he supposed to do? The same tinge of desperation that made sharing the bed so appealing meant that any emotions were screwy and any promise would be hard to keep. He might be a novice at this, but he knew that much. And even careful, provisional promises meant talking and feelings and... Ugh.

The door hissed open and Todd shuffled in, made his way to the unoccupied bed, and fell into it with a groan. He didn't look hurt, but that meant almost nothing. Kurt got up to hurry over, but he was suddenly afraid of whether he might be acting different, showing some kind of sign that he'd figured out Todd's feelings and was rapidly developing his own. He stopped and smiled instead. "How was today, mein freund?"

Todd rolled onto his back, opening his eyes reluctantly. "I don't even know, man. Whatever drug they gave me might screw up my powers or might not, but I am out of it and it's freaky."

Nope, not the time to talk. "Well, don't go to sleep before shower and dinner or you'll be very rudely awaken."

"Yeah, yeah. Poke me when she-" The screen beeped and Todd shrugged expansively, sliding off the bed with a sigh. Kurt went back to the other bed and stared at the ceiling, sharply aware of an entirely new difficulty with the showering situation.

* * *

Kurt was still moody and pensive the next morning, sitting at the table with Sean, Lorna, and fourteen-year-old twins named Xi'an and Tran. They didn't speak a lot of English, but their French was better than Kurt's, and he'd managed to translate enough for them to get Sean's run-down on the situation.

Sean was the oldest hand here, and therefore assumed to be wise. Apparently they didn't usually put more than three in one of these rooms. Something nasty seemed about to happen, but they'd been sitting for at least an hour looking at each other blankly.

Kurt knew he should be taking the time to think strategically, or at least being angry at the new evidence of the depths these people would plunge to, kidnapping a whole family of immigrants without many connections. The twins had two more little siblings, not mutants (or not yet), just being held for leverage. It was inhuman on a level that telekinesis and fur would never be able to equal.

But every so often, while he tried to mull over serious subjects, he would think of Todd again. He understood why it hadn't occurred to him _before_, but now that the idea was in his head... Kurt knew he was lonely and scared right now and maybe it wouldn't be like this later, but even the thought of being hugged and comforted was bewitching.

And he was pretty sure that if gratitude, respect, fondness, and the capacity to fall for a blue demon with fuzz wasn't a good reason to like someone, a good reason wasn't to be found.

He was pulled from his punctuated reverie by a trill from Lorna's collar. They all turned to look at her. Bad instinct. Knocking the table down and diving behind it would have been a better idea. Actually, they should probably have had a table for ready to go. But there was no more time for regret than for trying to duck when the girl's eyes began to light and the air crackled with ozone.

"I thought you said they didn't like to use Lorna," Kurt said weakly, backing up and trying to interpose himself between the little twins and Lorna, whose face registered great distress even as an odd, metallic scent rose in the air.

Sean was doing the same thing. A bit more effectively, since he was a foot taller and a lot wider than Kurt and a better human shield. "I said not usually. I don't know what-"

The ground rocked violently beneath them. Kurt blamed it on Polaris, now rising steadily into the air (and twitching like a marionette in the hands of an amateur) until the lights around them turned red and she dropped back to the floor. An alarm that would be really irritating if it weren't for being used to Sean's screeching began to blare overhead and the screen on the wall instructed them to stay put and behave.

"What was that, anyway?" Sean demanded. "Felt like an earthquake."

"More of an Avalanche." Kurt grinned at the look the older boy gave him. "I think the cavalry's here."


	23. Chapter 23

"I hope you're right about that," said Polaris softly. If the alarms hadn't been up on the high ceiling and his ears weren't mostly better, Kurt wouldn't have heard it. "Because I just sprang myself."

"You did what now?" Sean blinked dazedly.

"There was just a second between them shutting off the program that made my powers go nuts and turning them off again. I took advantage." She smiled wickedly. "Who's tired of having a collar?"

"Hold up, lass. They aren't likely to be on alert for long. What'd you say, fuzzy?"

Kurt could tell Sean was trying to take charge and expected to be obeyed, but he had his own ideas. And enough experience judiciously ignoring Scott that he knew how to do it. "I said our rescue party is here. That feels like Avalanche. ...Actually I don't know who picked his codename, since he definitely does earthquakes. That means a rescue is underway, but I don't know by who or how many." He looked over at the twins. Xi'an was whispering to her brother. He thought her English might be the better of the two. He hoped she was up to this, because he didn't think he should spare the time to say everyone again in his badly accented French. "Which is great, but they've got hostages all over this building."

"What, you think we can rescue everyone? Even if Lorna gets our powers turned back on, there's five of us, y'gack."

Lorna ignored him, smiling wickedly. "I could get us through a few walls. This place is full of metal."

"Good." Because if Lance was here, then there was a chance Magneto was, too. Say what you would about the man, he'd mean business in a case like this. If only Kurt could guess what combination of X-men, Brotherhood, and Morlocks had shown up. "But, uh, don't do that. First we need to get everyone out of the cells, and fast."

"A lot of people are probably in the lab already, or other test rooms," Sean reminded him testily.

"Those rooms are all in a row, right? We go past a whole bunch of doors that look the same. If I start opening walls..." Lorna's eyes were sparking a little. Kurt quickly cut her off.

"You aren't a can opener. You'll exhaust yourself if you start blasting through things, and we need you to get the collars off people, ja? We'll start with the cells downstairs. Remember, all of us have our own powers. The more people we free, the better our chances."

"What kind of talk is that?"

"X-man talk." Kurt grinned. "I can teleport two at a time. We'll go down to the cells and bust out anyone there." Polaris raised her hand and made a wrenching motion, grinning. His collar tore apart with a shrieking sound. "...Overkill?"

"Nah." The pieces whizzed through the air toward her and her own collar pulled apart. So did Sean's and the twins'. "Don't worry about me. The more metal I have, the better I feel."

"Good. Keep thinking positive thoughts and be ready for them to be very mad." Kurt was faintly aware that this was insanely dangerous and they were making it up as they went along, but the buzz all through his body as his powers returned made it hardly matter. He knew, objectively, that he was underslept and hungry and sore and his tail still made him stop short and inhale hard every time he moved it, but he couldn't care.

He took Xi'an and Tran's hands, and the fact that they didn't resist made him hope they had a pretty good idea what was going on. He took a few seconds to say, _"We're about to teleport. It's a little rough, but it's safe."_ Then he made the leap to just outside the cells.

They weren't alone. There were two guards, clearly startled, and Kurt tried to put himself between them and the kids. He wasn't letting them get shot for his lack of a plan. But both men stopped halfway through raising their weapons and instead set them down with jerky movements. Kurt looked back at the kids, both of whom had their eyes screwed up in obvious concentration.

Controlling people was a pretty disturbing mutation, and twin children pulling it off was the stuff of horror movies, but he couldn't afford to be unnerved right not. _"Can you hold them?"_

"_Yes. Get the others,"_ Xi'an said sharply. Kurt hurried despite her assurance, hopping straight back to the room they'd left and grabbing Lorna and Sean without bothering to prep them. Sean glared at him when they landed, looking a little green, but Lorna simply shook out her hair and smiled again when she saw the younger two and the guards.

"We win."

"We've got a long way to go, Polaris." Kurt finally took a moment to look over the cell block. Most of the rooms actually were filled. Their luck was very good so far, which might mean more help from outside. "I'll tire myself out if I port everyone in there out. Sean, do you think you could-"

"Don't even." He drew himself back to his full (considerable) height, seeming chagrined now that all the younger mutants were joining in the escape plan. "Anyone on the other side of glass I hit would be torn to bits."

"I could pull out the metal inside?" Lorna offered. "But that would leave a lot of broken glass, too. And they're already coming down to stop us. I can feel the vibrations."

"_I've got it,"_ Tran said quietly. One of the guards walked to a control panel and began to punch in codes. The doors all slid open, and the twins marched the two men into an unoccupied cell.

"Coming down the stairs! That way! Dammit!" Lorna's voice rose to a panicked squeak as threw up her hands and tore up half the floor, leaving concrete exposed beneath as metal plating was hurled loudly against the nearest stairwell. She nearly clipped a girl with pink hair and wings as she tried to peek out of her cell.

"Careful," Kurt said weakly. This was messier than he'd expected, and that was downright stupid. How had he thought he'd get dozens of mutant prisoners out safely, exactly? It had all seemed so straightforward before he'd started.

"Oh, yes, Lorna, be careful, wouldn't want to bop anyone on the head before they get shot like fish in a barrel." Sean didn't look beset by doubts so much as profound irritation.

"Leave her alone. She's doing a lot." Kurt glared at him. "They'll have to go around to another stairwell now."

"Oh, did you get the impression I was sniping at the little girl, blue boy?"

"Girls, girls, yer both pretty," said a familiar voice from around Kurt's wait. Todd hopped into view. "How'd you get the doors open?"

Kurt clapped him on the shoulder instead of wasting words on a greeting. People were emerging from the cells all over, but others were staying put, waiting to see what was going on, and Lorna's wall would only keep them safe so long. Todd wasn't exactly a leader or a planner, but his weird insights, Kurt knew from experience, could make a big difference. "Tran and Xi'an used the grunts as puppets."

"Damn, was hopin' you'd hacked the system or somethin'. This place is way too big. Gotta find a way to get everyone organized at once. I was thinkin' the robot bitch." Todd didn't have any big picture ideas. He just wanted to bail out Mr. Hero before he got everyone killed.

"Um, excuse me?" The kid behind them looked very ordinary and definitely freaked out. "I think I can help." He stepped jerkily past them and began hammering keys on the console the controlled guard had used to open the doors. "No problem. They have that system in place. Talk into here."

Todd flashed the kid a thumbs-up. Behind him, he heard Kurt ask, "Was that a power thing or are you just good at computers?"

"Both. Code is just a language. My power is totally passive, so the collars only half work, I think?"

Cool. He leaned down to the microphone. "Hey, kids, you are officially being sprung, kind of by representatives of the X-men and the Brotherhood, and also you guys. Pat yerselves on the back. We got a lotta work to do to get out safe. Get outta the cells an' head over here." Todd paused and looked over his shoulder. "You guys got your powers back on how?"

"Polaris can take out the collars."

"Cool. So, guys, back to you. If you got a good offensive power, line up next to the chick with the green hair. If it's more of a stealth thing or you turn jello into ham, stand over by the redheaded dude who's glarin' at me. Also if yer less than, like, fifteen, or y'plain don't know how t'fight, or yer hurt."

"The chick with the green hair is thirteen, weirdo," said an oddly familiar voice. Todd glanced over, did a double take, and made himself nod.

"Make that thirteen." Todd backed off from the microphone and nodded as impassively as he could to the two who seemed to be kind of Kurt's lieutenants. Tall Irish guy and girl who looked and sounded exactly like a younger Wanda in a different color palette. Plus the two kids who didn't seem to talk, the computer guy, and more people headed over now, some looking angry, some scared, a few just excited.

He hopped over to Kurt's side. "So, uh, you got a plan or anything that looks like one?"

"Not even a little, but you moved us in the right direction." Kurt reached over and fluffed his hair. It made him feel a little bit like a dog, but he found he didn't mind too much. "Lorna, can you get Toad's collar?"

"Sure." She snapped her hands apart and the collar split in two. The pieces hovered in the air for a moment, flowing like liquid and shedding little bits of plastic and computer chips, and the two pure chunks of metal twisted around her upper arm like a bracelet. "I'm gonna start getting everybody else."

Todd leaned in toward Kurt a bit. "So... That girl who looks like Wanda five years ago has metal powers?"

"I haven't wanted to say anything." He looked sheepish. "Anyway, did you feel that earthquake? Lance has to be here, right?"

"That's how I figured. Hope it's not just the guys." On the one hand, it'd be pretty flattering if the Brotherhood had rushed in alone just to save him. Especially when he'd kind of fucked off for the last few months. On the other hand, well, he liked those guys, and they were pretty boss and all, but this place could probably stand up to a fast guy, a guy throwing big things, a guy shaking stuff, and a beautiful woman screwing over the laws of reality. If nothing else, they had that crazy poison that wouldn't bother humans.

Come to think... Todd missed Kurt's reply and jumped over to the intercom system again. "Hey, anybody here got, like, air powers? Come on up here."

It was a long shot, but a girl shouldered her way to him a few seconds later. "_Si,_ I do. What do you need?"

Todd tried not to be distracted by her talking to him like he was important. After all, it _had_ been his idea. He'd kind of earned it. That and Kurt was ushering two little kids up to those twins, tall guy was talking to Stacy, and Polaris-who-was-clearly-related-to-Wanda was still removing collars. "Dunno if it's how they got you, but there's this poison that goes through the air an' only hurts mutants. Betcha they'll use it. Any way you could, like, keep it away from us?"

"There's a lot of people here." She looked around uncertainly. "But I guess I could just keep blowing... You say 'that's what she said' and you taste the eye of a hurricane, _idioto_."

He liked her. Todd held up his hands helplessly. "I was only gonna think it, I swear. Go to her an' get yer collar off."

She nodded and took a step toward Lorna before she let out a little squeak and clutched at her throat. They'd finally caught on, and everyone still collared was on their knees or the floor in moments. Some of them just kids.

Lorna hurried and snapped the nearest one, but the girl she took it off screamed horribly when she did, and Todd could see burns around her neck.

"Lorna! Get the computer kid!" Kurt shouted, holding the winged girl barely above the ground. He wasn't sure he'd normally have been able to hold up a girl almost his size, but he definitely wasn't up to it for long right now. He was afraid she'd hurt her wings if she hit the ground, but she was going the right way to hurt him, the way the collar was making her twitch.

"I'll hurt him, too!"

"He's hurting now!"

"No, I'll fix it!" Her eyes burst alight again and a strange charge shot through the air. It wasn't quite light or sound, but it edged on both, or maybe that was the closest way he had to describe it. The collared mutants stopped twitching and moved to get up, but Lorna swayed, gray-faced, and Sean had to reach out to steady her.

"EMP. I probably fried the computer, too. Sorry..."

"Relax. Good job." Kurt was worried, but what else was new? He took a stab at trying to use the loudspeaker again, but the console just made a sad buzzing noise and ignored him. Oh, well. Kurt took quick stock of the layout of the room, jumped up onto the console box, kicked off the wall, caught a low-hanging pipe, and hopped onto the ceiling of the nearest transparent cube. There was a certain satisfaction in being up here and looking down on that awful little prison. "Hey, everybody?" There were too many people. Too loud. "Guys?" He raised his voice all he could. "Hey! Shut up for a minute!" The closer ones were looking at him, but he wasn't loud enough.

Sean rolled his eyes and let out a piercing screech that _roughly_ resembled, "Shut up!" They did.

"You want to just do the speech?" Kurt asked, leaning over the edge.

"Nah. Can't keep that up too long. You go ahead."

"Right." He straightened. "Okay, everyone have their powers back?" There was a cheer for that. "Good. Well, you all heard the plan to sort ourselves out. Kids, anyone injured, and anyone with powers that aren't meant for combat, get in the center. If you shoot energy beams or something like that, get up front. Defensive power like armor or force fields, wrap up around the ones who need protecting. It's going to be a long way out, but we'll have allies meeting us partway through."

With impeccable timing, Kitty and Rogue dropped through the ceiling, landing on the cell next to the one he was using for a stage.

"Right, X-men are here." Kurt nodded to them, then made the relatively easy leap across to hug Kitty. Rogue wasn't all that huggy as a rule, but she joined in, too. "Tag, favorite people. What's the sitch upstairs?"

"Oh, pretty much everyone is here," Kitty said expansively, looking around at the crowd. "Kinda like down here, I guess. I haven't seen this many of us together since, like, Apocalypse. We were just supposed to, well, find you. Rogue borrowed Jean's powers for a little bit to get us here. The professor said there were more mutants here, but I don't think he quite knew, y'know, the scope."

"Some of the tech here must have disrupted his powers, too." Kurt found that idea unnerving. Despite rather a lot of evidence to the contrary, it was more comfortable to think of Professor X as omnipotent. "There are more people in labs upstairs."

"Then that's where we'll go." Rogue closed her eyes. "Okay, just managed to tell Jean that. Think I'm outta psychic batteries now. We'll meet everybody upstairs."

"Any telepaths here?" Kurt called, on the off chance.

"Just a tad!" called a tall girl with purple hair.

"There, we're not totally cut off. Let's get moving." Kurt took Rogue's hand and ported her down. Kitty slid down through the walls. "Polaris, how do you feel now?"

"Woozy." She smiled weakly, still looking pale as she leaned on Sean's arm.

"Right, you get in the middle. Kitty, can you walk with the kids and the injured, in case somebody needs to be pulled out of the way?" She nodded and walked through several people to stand next to Xi'an and Tran's little brother and sister and Lorna. "Rogue, maybe go toward the back? The grunts here don't seem to have a lot of skin showing."

"Man, see how soon I rescue you again," Rogue griped fondly, going to stand next to winged girl.

"Hell of an inspiring speech there, furball," Todd said, falling in to hop beside Kurt. Both of them were toward the front, though neither was exactly combat ready. Todd didn't comment on that. "Way to show 'em what blue can do for you."

"Shut up," Kurt said without acrimony. He sighed. "This leader thing isn't for me. I'm making it up as I go."

"Eh, y'managed."

"This heart to heart looks like it's going places and all, but it sounds like we're about to be in trouble. Again." Sean glowered at them both.

He was right. About a dozen of the guards rounded the corner. Todd spun around. "Hey, air girl!"

"Sofia!"

"Right, you. Prolly they'll try an' gas us."

"On it!"

The gas would have dropped them, but as it was, it was a dozen men versus twice that many mutants and then some. They were still armed men, though, and as soon as they realized the kids in front of them weren't going down, the weapons were going to come into play.

Before Todd could get his panic really rolling, Lorna shoved past him, reaching out with a shaky hand. There was a just barely audible snap and she whimpered.

Todd stood up to steady her. "What'd you do, kiddo?"

"Don't call me kiddo, weirdo." Apparently automatic snapping just ran in the family.

Todd winced as Sean sent a screech into the center of the men that had paused to stare at their non-functional firearms. Two in the center were knocked down. "Sorry, s'what I call my kid sister. She's about your age."

"Oh." She softened. Or maybe just felt a little fainter. "I couldn't do much, so I just broke their firing pins."

Todd let out a low whistle. "Good job."

A half dozen mutants ran forward, the girl who claimed to be a tad telepathic ducking around him with a purple sword glowing in her hands. Todd stuck out a hand and grabbed Kurt's wrist to keep him from running after them. "Nope. Let the heavy hitters do it."

"But-"

"You still ain't even got all yer blood back from the tail thing."

Kurt sighed and half turned to step back. Todd watched the fight around him. These guys were getting trounced by half their number, mostly teenagers. He understood why they were scared. If you were the type to see an unknown as an enemy, mutants were a hell of an enemy to have. And these clowns, at least, had gone ahead and made sure they were targets.

The ones that got up were trying to get past the tough guys to the larger mass of weak, young, and injured. Todd readied himself to kick some bad guy kneecaps in, but his eyes, attuned to tracking predators, caught a pattern that stopped him cold. They weren't just gunning for the crowd back here. If they were, they'd be spreading out, probably converging on the really weak targets, the little kids or the burned girl or Lorna, now leaning on Rogue. Instead, they were aiming for Kurt.

Made sense. They'd picked him as the leader, and if they took him down, it'd hit morale hard. That was basic. Todd wasn't sure how well it'd work in this case, since it was probably clear to everyone that fur-for-brains was making it up as he went along and half a step from falling on his face. But the plan remained.

Everything was happening very fast. Todd needed to be between Kurt and the two guards who'd broken through the mutant defense line. He pushed off the wall and smashed both legs straight into the first one's chest and spat slime at the next, but he missed. He hadn't been moving much and those weird drugs were probably still in his system. Kurt turned—Todd might have remembered to warn him, might not—but he wasn't fast enough.

The man raised his gun like a club. Didn't need a working firing pin to hit a flimsy guy with a heavy object. But before he could bring it down, a dark cloud engulfed him, then solidified into sharp lines in the air that slashed at his weapon and helmet, opening long rents in his armored uniform and finally slicing the helmet in two. A bruised, scraped line marked the man's face underneath the split, but he looked far more scared and confused than really hurt.

Kurt hauled off and punched him in the nose. It was almost as good as the time he took down the junior jock. Todd would have liked to think about it for an extra moment, write it indelibly on his memory, but there was a fight finishing up and someone had just saved them. He was pretty sure he knew who before he turned. She'd gotten good.

Soorayah was taller than Kurt and so pretty it was just unfair. She'd been way out of his league years ago. Now she didn't seem like she ought to exist on the same planet. And that was in an ill-fitting orange jumpsuit. It occurred to him in the same moment that, back in the day, he'd wanted to know what her hair looked like and that he wasn't supposed to know. He wasn't exactly clear on the whole thing, but the scarves he'd admired were there for a reason.

Todd had already put his knees through this jumpsuit, and hopping around had made the tears worse. He didn't even need to look when he reached down and tore the right leg away entirely, then pulled the whole thing apart at the seam. It wasn't elegant or big enough, probably, but at least the weirdo disinfecting routine meant it was clean. He held the cloth out with a sheepish smile.

She looked confused for a moment, frowned, and sliced through the middle with a cracking blow of sand from her fingertips. She tied the longer, thinner strips together and then wrapped the whole around her head. It didn't exactly work, but she stood a little straighter. "Thank you."

"No problem, babe," he said, shrugging. "Got the note, by the way." Which meant she couldn't have been here that long. Kurt wouldn't sit on something like that.

She raised her eyebrows, managing to look stately even in surprise. "How...?"

"This guy," he said, punching Kurt's arm. Kurt waved absently, but was mostly concerned with watching the end of the beat-down by Sean, purple sword girl, and another chick who looked pretty normal but who seemed to be bouncing blows off her skin like they were pennies thrown by bored upperclassmen. That _was_ kinda cool. "He's the boss."

"Really." She smiled. A quiet but dazzling smile.

"Time to move now, children," Sean shouted hoarsely. "Testing rooms, labs, then out!"

Todd shrugged and joined Kurt again at the front. Soorayah kept up as well as anyone, but it was hard to talk while they hurried, pushing past a few more small groups of guards, but not another concentrated force. He saw a girl blind some guys with erratic bursts of light, a guy run circles around three guards and a scientist at speeds that would make Pietro jealous while another gathered weird blobs of pulsating energy and tossed them at oncoming bad guys.

He would never have Kurt's capacity for optimism, but damn, they were cool when everyone worked together.

They entered a big hallway that Todd didn't recognize, but he joined in throwing open all the doors and letting out a few more prisoners. Seemed to be less than Kurt and his sidekicks expected, but Todd had noticed that a lot of people were still in the cell block this morning. If he had to venture a guess, the rescue team had spent a little while making life difficult for everyone in this place before they'd outright attacked, but he didn't manage to catch Rogue or Kitty to check.

And then they reached the lab. Todd wasn't the only one who slowed down a little coming up to these rooms. He didn't really remember a lot of his time here, what little of it there was, but it creeped him right out.

Of course, some people hadn't had time to build up that particular trauma. Kurt tried to kick the door in, bounced off, and looked sheepish as Sean opened it with the handle like a person who thought things. Todd patted his elbow on the way in.

It was dim and there were a few more prisoners, collared and quiet, on one side. Aside from them, only Dr. Rao remained.

She scared everyone. It gave Todd a bit of a boost. Usually he was easy to creep out, but he'd felt the whole room slow to a stop as they realized she was there, and that made him as brave as anyone. Cool. "Hey, crazy lady. 'Sup?"

"You've done quite a thorough job, children," she said softly. "I suppose those of you still wearing your collars could be brought into line, but there are enough of you free to make sure I wouldn't get very far."

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be fun. Though, y'know, we're the good guys." That was so much fun to say. "Yer the bad guy. Girl. We win an' you lose, but we don't stomp yer face in or nothin'." He hoped. He suspected a few of the other mutants, the ones who'd been here longer or, say, had their little siblings held as collateral, would have other plans.

"Whatever you like to tell yourself." She shrugged. "I'm here to make a better world for all of us and a better life for you. And everyone else carrying that gene."

"We, like, have a _rule_ about monologuing, lady," said Kitty as she stepped out of the wall beside the doctor, bringing Rogue behind her. Rogue pressed a hand to the woman's cheek and she dropped instantly.

Kurt usually winced when his sister did that, but he couldn't find it in himself to mind right now. "Well, uh, we have everyone... Don't we? Does everyone have their cellmate?" Kurt wasn't sure how to do a role call, but the general tone of the responses suggested no one missing. "The question is, do we stay put here until the big fight is over, or break for it? I think most of our fighters are worn out."

"Break for it," Polaris said, slowly pulling collars off the newest rescues. She still looked a bit ill and her movements were sluggish. "What if the fight goes downhill out there?"

"But we do have a solid position here, lass," Sean observed. "There's only one door and there are beds for the wounded and drained out..."

The speakers above them crackled to life. For a moment, Kurt expected the robot bitch, but the voice belonged to Lance Alvers. "Attention, everyone. This facility is now in the possession of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Good news if you're a mutant. Anyway, uh, surrender. Terms of surrender are-"

"Give me that, Alvers," said Scott's voice, muffled and very irked.

Kurt and Todd looked at each other and burst out laughing. If there was an edge of hysteria in it, it didn't matter. They were safe.


	24. Chapter 24

Kurt looked around the room while the speakers played an indistinct, scuffling argument. Taking a look at the still-collared mutants they'd picked up from the testing rooms and this lab. Most of them looked human, more or less, but one boy was green and fairly reptilian, another so odd even Kurt couldn't resist a bit of a double-take. He looked like a bird smashed into a human, and not in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Right. Not a big deal. They didn't look _hurt_, but they'd been in this lab for a while, and Todd had come back barely conscious. "Is everybody alright here?" he asked, wishing he'd thought to check earlier. Not a leader. "Um, well, alright enough to walk?" If they added to the ranks of the non-combatants in their center, maybe they'd at least bulk out the bruisers proportionately?

"They didn't really get very far in today's session before those alarms went off," volunteered a woman a little older than most of them. "Anybody who actually got their injection today, let me check you out." The reptilian boy and a red haired girl walked over to her.

"Power thing?" Kurt asked without thinking.

She rolled her eyes. "Med student thing. I do force fields when I don't have this on." She didn't need to do anything to demonstrate what _this_ was. It was on all their minds. "Can we have whatever solution you all got?"

Kurt looked over at Lorna. She was still pale. "Do you think you're up to it?"

"Um, sure." She swallowed and straightened up.

"No, don't kill yourself," said the boy whose power seemed to involve talking to a computer and who Kurt realized guiltily he'd never asked for a name. "There's a big computer here. Let me see if I can find whatever's transmitting to these things." He dropped into an office chair and spun around once before he began typing away.

Todd watched him for a moment, decided that was really boring, and went to go take a look at the doctor. He wasn't sure how long someone would stay down if Rogue knocked them out on purpose, but it probably wasn't too long.

She was kind of tall, but pretty thin. He picked her up without much trouble and deposited her in one of her own chairs, snapping the restraints into place. The poetic justice of it was kind of fun.

He had to wonder where the rest of the labcoats were. (It seemed like if you could call a business dork a suit and a cop a uniform, you should be able to call science lackeys "labcoats.") She'd been waiting, ready to tell them off, but he remembered at least a half dozen people doing medical junk when he was in the room. Funny.

Todd's reputations for cowardice and poor planning were well deserved. He found everything people did weird and disorienting and he freaked at the smallest provocation, so he never did know a big problem from a little or imagined one. But there were good ideas buried in the noise, and he was getting a little better at figuring out which ones were important lately. It helped to be able to bounce them off someone who didn't just ignore everything he said because he was Toad.

Right. Needed Kurt again. He turned and scanned the crowd, smirking a bit to be in a room where it was actually a little tricky to pick out the blue guy. He wasn't actually trying ineffectually to boss people around just now. Instead, he was glaring at the little box that housed the loudspeaker. He wore an expression that normally went with agitated tail-lashing, but the tail was clearly not up to it.

The sound of Shades and Lance fighting had gone from background to quiet, Todd realized. "We ain't outta the woods, are we, fool?"

Before Kurt could answer, the kid at the computer called, "Collars are shut _down_."

"Good. Everyone get the things off, too, if you can." Kurt spun around. "Um... You."

"Doug," said computer guy.

"Doug. Can you pull up security cameras? We know they have a ton."

"Sure." He went back to work.

Kurt turned to the woman who'd told him off a moment before. It took the wind out of his sails a little. She was an adult and not obviously a mutant, and it was hard to convince himself he had as much right to tell her what to do as he did Doug. Which wasn't much, but since people were listening to him, he'd keep on doing it. Things seemed to happen in the right direction when he talked. "You do force fields? Can you take the littler kids?"

"Take them where? What are you expecting to happen?"

He tried not to feel like he was being cross-interrogated by a teacher for a shaky oral report. "I don't know yet, but-"

"I've got security feed," Doug said, interrupting. "Let me just fullscreen, and..." He trailed off as the screen suddenly blinked out to be replaced by a weird, stylized drawing of a bird in blue and red, superimposed with the letters FOH. Kurt got the impression it was supposed to be very imposing but it looked like the logo for a grocery store chain. He'd barely completed that snarky thought when the doors all slammed on them.

Most of them winced as the hated voice of the robot bitch came over the speakers. She was no longer simply playing smooth edits of prerecorded phrases, however, and the effect was choppy as whatever voice-changing software was in use tried to compensate. "Thank you for collecting yourselves so neatly, vermin. It's a pity about the doctor, but considering her sympathies... You can't cure some viruses. Only exterminate."

"We've got another monologuer," Kitty groaned.

"Figure out what they're doing. Sofia, can you do the wind thing again, in case?"

"I guess. I'm pretty worn out." She took a deep breath, but before the girl could get the air moving again, the robot voice went on.

"Oh, you're welcome to see what will end this little escape. And your bold rescuers, too." A panel on the floor glowed and opened up, lifting a small metal sphere. "Three."

Kurt started forward over the immediate outpouring of noise. It was obviously a bomb, and if he could get to it in time, he could take it... Elsewhere. Anywhere. Finish this rescue. And maybe even get away again.

"Two."

Kurt tumbled to the ground, knocked down by Todd's tongue wrapped around his ankle. He tried to shove forward, knowing he didn't have time to argue. Or to say anything that had to be said.

"One."

Too late.

Kurt saw the beginnings of the explosion, had time for that sudden burst to burn itself into his light-sensitive eyes and to know how completely he'd failed. Then the blast was surrounded by a shimmery shell like frosted glass. It didn't do much to soften the light and the room rattled hard, but he didn't even feel the heat.

Swallowing hard, he got up on his knees and twisted around. The woman who'd offered the force field was trembling and covered in clammy sweat, her nose and ears bleeding, with Doug and the winged girl helping her into the nearest chair. Her eyes opened, a little crossed, and she managed a wavering smile. "Force fields," she said simply, raising her hand for a wobbly attempt at a dismissive gesture.

Amazing what mutants could do together. Tired, recently-depowered, repeatedly drugged, and hungry. Unarmed, disorganized, young and confused. They could still stand up to anything. For a second he understood why the bastards were scared.

Then being alive when he'd been sure a second before he was going to die caught up with him, and he had to resist the urge to curl his knees to his chest and whimper. He'd made the right choice. If it hadn't been for that woman's powers, there could have been one death and not dozens, and that was his call. Todd shouldn't have stopped him. There should probably be a fight about that, but he didn't want that to happen.

He was unsurprised to find his friend glaring at him when he finally looked around. Kurt breathed in deeply. "I'm not sorry. It was the right thing to do. But I guess under the circumstances it's a good thing you caught me, and I'm kind of glad you did anyway." He got slowly to his feet, clapping his hand on Todd's shoulder as he did. And lingering. Definitely a few seconds too long.

Todd opened his mouth to be furious, but he came up short. "That- Well... You don't think that's the end of that, do yah?" He'd better not dare pull a stunt like that and think he got to not hear about it just because he was soft-spoken and had a good point.

"Why, you want to _talk_ about it?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrows incredulously.

Stupid feelings. "...Fuck you, Crawler."

"Uh-huh." Kurt smiled and turned. Todd watched him go, though his eyes landed on the bandaged tail tip. It was hard to ricochet within a few seconds from surety of death to safety again, sure, but harder to watch the stupid heroic bastard he loved hurl himself straight at a bomb. It wasn't like he hadn't been able to follow the plan. He even knew he shouldn't have stopped Kurt going. But in those seconds he'd felt ice and fire in his heart and he couldn't just pretend it hadn't happened.

The screen was back to normal. "How much can you shut down from here?" Kurt was asking Doug the computer guy, whose powers probably had _some_ other utility. "Unless that bomb was right under the floor to start with, there's got to be a system you can shut off..." Still trying. Shots in the dark, but hell, he'd throw himself on a grenade for strangers. Might as well keep barking dumb orders.

"Not to be a downer," Sean cut in. "But do we have any reason to figure this lunatic won't blow the whole place, even if we turn off the delivery system?" Guy had a point.

"Where's Dorian when you need him?" Kurt sighed. Todd thought he'd heard the name, but he couldn't place it. He kept watching Kurt, trying to shake this sense of unreality. Reminding himself that he was angry about the attempted martyrdom was helping a little, but he didn't quite have his head above water yet.

"If the answer isn't _here_, then move on," snapped Irish McGee. Ha. Scattershot mockery did always make him feel better.

"I'm just going to sit here and focus on anything I feel incoming," Polaris announced, sitting on the edge of the computer desk. "Not that it's a guarantee. If something blows up in the next room we'll still be in bad shape, but at least the same thing won't work again." Smart-ish kid. Bombs didn't have to be made of metal and he thought about saying so, but he didn't really want to open his mouth.

"Can you get me intercoms, Doug? And pull up those cameras again."

"I can try. This isn't a happy computer." But he did it. Apparently. Todd was watching Kurt, not the screen. Every time he took his eyes off the stupid furball he was sure some other awful thing would happen. When he'd gone to bed after a scary movie when he was little, he'd always insisted on lying straight as a board on the bed so he could see the whole room. He'd never known what he was sure was sneaking up on him, but it was terrible, and that same panicky impulse kept his eyes on Kurt now.

"Hey, guys?" Suddenly Kurt's voice came out of the speaker above them. "I mean everyone, mutant or not. Someone here just took a shot at blowing us all to hell, and there's a human in here with us. So I'm just going to guess no one's life is worth all that much if whoever it is can take out the mutants, ja? Maybe we should all just clear out right now?"

Todd finally got his voice to work. "Optimist."

"Ja, well, self-preservation is a hell of an impulse, and from what the doctor said, it's not a secret that someone here is kind of crazy. Maybe everyone else knows it, too." Kurt looked around to Sean. "Think we should move? We'll be harder to hit."

"If we can carry her," he said, nodding to the woman who'd just saved all their lives and was still wavering in and out of consciousness. "Anybody got increased carrying capacity, here?"

"No problem," said one of the newcomers. Todd thought he'd come out of the power testing, not this lab. "She's not heavy." He levitated the woman off the chair, both he and the target giving off a faint, green glow.

"I'll get Doctor Moreau over here," Todd volunteered. Rao was too tall for him to hop with her, but he was going to be sore and crabby later on anyway. Might as well get some use out of it. That he'd just volunteered to potentially imperil himself for the sake of an avowed enemy and definite creep made him scowl a little. He'd be putting on X-man colors soon at this rate.

"You don't think she might be safer away from us?" Lorna asked, standing up and stretching.

"Not if the whole building goes up. Come on, back in formation," Sean barked, then seemed to remember that the new kids didn't know that part of the plan. "Injured, kids, and non-combatants in the center, bruisers on the outsides, projectiles up front. And let's get a heavy hitter next to anyone who's carrying around someone unconscious."

Todd moved Dr. Rao into a fireman's carry and fell into step next to Kurt. He was beginning to get over his initial shock, but he still didn't want blue boy getting too far away.

The walk wasn't totally uneventful. They met two grunts running from another direction who told them to stand down. The group as a whole didn't even pause while untouchable girl and psychic sword girl knocked them down and took their guns.

"We're kinda badass after all, huh?" Todd observed.

"That's why they had to catch us one at a time," Kurt said with a wry smile.

"Philosophize later, move now," Sean suggested airily.

"I can walk an' philoz-phuh-_think_ at the same time if I wanna, Mickey O'Pain in the Ass."

Sean didn't dignify that one with much response, instead pulling open a pair of double doors to a huge room with four floors of platforms to shoot from. It was obviously meant to be defensible, but when overrun by mutants, it was more of a can of whup-ass as seen from the inside. They'd finally found the big fight.

Kurt's announcement didn't seem to have done a lot of good. One of the guard guys stumbled in front of Sean, his gun neatly sliced off halfway down, and as the stunned man seemed to try to make some sense of that, Callisto stepped into view and kicked his knees out from under him.

"Pretty cool, boss lady," Todd said with a nod. He'd have gone with a salute, but Dr. Rao was getting heavy.

"There you are." She tilted her head to get the full impression of a few dozen mostly young mutants in prison orange lined up in the hallway. "Huh. Hey, Logan, tell all your little friends we found them."

Todd heard the guy growl into his communicator jobber, but there was no immediately visible effect. There was still a fight going on, though not much left. A blur that allowed the very slightest glimpse of weirdo white hair rushed by them. He could see bright flashes that looked electrical in origin from one side of the room. Part of a car hurtled past them.

"Man, everybody came to this party."

"It's because we're so awesome," Kurt said with a smirk. "Looks like we missed the fun part, though." There were only a few guards left, and as they looked on, they were engulfed in a cloud of glittering blue, lifted off the ground, and dropped into a circle of torn up truck parts.

"Okay, I admit, your friends are pretty cool," Sean said flatly.

Logan stepped into view. "Yeah, looks like there are a lot more than we expected. Mostly look okay, though. Anybody hurt here?"

"A couple. Und, um, we should probably get out before the whole place blows up?"

"Hank's scanning the facility from the X-Jet. Says after an explosion didn't quite go off, a couple of human-sized heat signatures high-tailed it in a truck an' there's been nothin' since. He'll give us a heads up." He craned his neck a bit. Kurt sometimes forgot how oddly short Wolverine was. He gave the impression of gigantism by sheer force of personality. "Weather's not great, but I'm guessin' all you kids'd like some fresh air. Get the wounded into the van out there."

"What about her?" Todd tried to nod at the woman he was carrying over his shoulder, so it was a bit of a peculiar gesture, but he got the idea across.

"Who's she?"

"Crazy doctor. Thinks she can cure mutants."

"Eh. Nobody's gonna trample her if you leave her over there." He pointed to a slightly battered table where a couple guys in uniforms were pinned by some of Spyke's spears. "Okay. Everybody else, out."

They didn't need to be told twice. Todd stopped long enough to set the good doctor down and spat a gob of slime on her for good measure, then hopped back to Kurt's side. The group held its formation loosely as they hurried through the big space, dodging around debris and being joined here and there by X-men and Morlocks. The Brotherhood seemed to be keeping to themselves a bit.

Todd wished they'd stop. His life was hard enough right now. He hopped up onto a support beam that was mostly intact and spied Wanda in step with Lance toward the back and Freddy just drifting a bit. He didn't always do great without direction. Todd whistled and waved when he glanced over.

"Hey, there you are." Dukes seemed genuinely pleased. He was a bit of a jerk to most people, but his fondness for Todd was as sincere as the smaller mutant's for him. "Doin' okay?"

"Good as I could be, big guy. You guys wrecked this place up good."

"Yup. That was fun, too."

"Cool. Hey, y'wanna do me a favor? See that lady that the psychic kid's carryin' around with green light?" He pointed them out. "He's pretty tired out, an' she saved us all from getting' blown up. So, y'know, maybe carry her the rest of the way?"

"Yeah, okay." It wasn't like he begrudged favors. He was just always sure someone was about to make fun of him, but apparently this crowd put him at ease the way it did Todd. You couldn't expect too much mocking from the bird dude or wingy girl. "Hop on."

Todd would have preferred to get back to Kurt, but given the whole point of this maneuver was to get the Brotherhood in with everyone else and smooth things over for him, that'd be stupid. He hopped from the beam onto Freddy's shoulder and pointed the way, reminding the big guy to be careful not to step on anyone.

"Hey, got you some relief, man," he said chirpily as they came up beside the telekinetic kid. He nodded, looking tired, and Dukes carried the woman with no effort at all. Todd stayed on his shoulder, glad for the rest. He didn't think he'd even been out of bed for more than a couple hours, but he was tired to the bone.

When they got outside, it was just to a parking lot under a gray, drizzly sky, but it might as well have been Eden. He watched from his comfortable vantage point as Sofia threw out her arms and twisted bits of broken leaves and scraps of wrappers into a small cyclone above her head. Two girls hugged. The creepy twins and their little siblings were actually crying.

And maybe he felt a little bit cool. He'd helped, even if he wasn't the big turning point or anything. "Okay, Wolverine said there's a van where we gotta take the hurt people. That must be it."

"I'll get it," Freddy said. "You better find your sister. She was pretty annoying on the way over, y'know."

"Trix is here?" It wasn't impossible that he'd have missed her. She was tiny and moved around a lot, and he hadn't actually seen her in uniform before. But she _shouldn't_ be here. She was twelve. They hadn't even let the kids that young fight in the group of fucking escaping prisoners.

"Yeah. Around."

"Thanks, fool. Owe you one." He hopped down, narrowly avoided landing on wingy girl, and did his best to scan the crowd. Before he'd done much more that resolve around the right height he was looking for, he was hit by about seventy pounds from behind.

"Todd!"

He wrestled out of the hug and spun around. She did look pretty cool in that uniform, he had to admit. It was kind of like those weird bodysuits that surfers wore, stopping just above the knees and elbows. It was smooth black with a blue X across her chest that he suspected would get awkward in a few years if puberty caught up with her. It might not. Ma was damn skinny, after all. The goggles were definitely a neat touch, though they magnified her eyes in a really amusing way.

He'd appreciate it later. "Okay, what the hell are you doin' here, pipsqueak?"

"Um, saving your dumb butt? I was _pretty_ cool, if I do say so myself. There was this guy, and I was on the ceiling, and I got his helmet with my _tongue_, and then Wolverine, like, punched his whole nose in. So that was really neat. And-"

Nope. Todd looked around and saw Scott passing by. He was generally a little afraid of the guy, a lot annoyed by him, just a little respectful. Unlike most of the Brotherhood, he'd seen the good in the jerk, even if he did have a stick up his ass and a hell of an ego. But just now he was pissed, and he sort of forgot one of his own ground rules.

"Hey, Shades!" Despite Scott's visor, that he was just _confused_ by being addressed was clear. "Yeah, I'm talkin' t'you, Mr. Field Leader. What the hell is a seventh grader doin' on a job like this?"

Trixe grabbed his shoulder and spun him back to her. "Uh-uh, I'm the one who asked special permission to go. It's my first mission _ever_. Scott didn't even wanna take me! The Professor said I could, because my personal stake being what it is, he'd rather not find me stowing away on the plane. Paraphrased."

"Yer twelve, kiddo. This ain't anyplace you oughta be."

"Maybe, but y'should have thought'a that before you got kidnapped, huh, frogface? Also, you worried me, so I'm gonna beat you up."

"That's tough but fair. Don't change the fact that the folks I sentcha to t'make sure y'got taken care of brought y'along to face a buncha scary dudes with guns. Real guns, Trixie!"

Kurt came up behind a totally confused Scott and patted his shoulder. "Let it be, mein freund. This will just go on until they're tired."

"Usually Trixie ends up talking so fast it's just a buzzing noise and Toad wanders off," Wanda said as she passed, by way of backing him up.

"See? Nothing to worry about."

"But..."

"Since when is the tiny X-spaz Tolansky's sister?" came Pietro's shrill tones from behind him, elucidating what Scott couldn't quite manage.

Kurt turned calmly. "Hey, Pietro, see that girl over there? She has metal powers. Who does she look like to you?" He smiled innocently as he watched the speedster's double take. At least he was helping.

"Y'know, what's funny is he and the Li'l T were gettin' along fiiiine," Boom-boom said in casually conversational tones, bracing her elbow on his shoulder and examining her nails. "I think it helps him, havin' someone else exist in his weirdo speedy dimension. Hope he doesn't whine about it too long."

"But..."

"Aw, One-eye, this is why nobody tells yah nothin'." She transferred over to Scott's shoulders instead, leading him away a bit.

The argument had wound down while Kurt deflected variously well-intentioned passerby. When he turned his attention back to Todd and Trixie, it was in time to see her stomp on Todd's foot and stalk away.

"Ow."

"It can't hurt that much. She doesn't weigh anything at all."

"Sharp bones though, man." Todd sat down on the bumper of a truck, watching the crowd mill around while the various grown-ups tried to suss out some order, sort those who needed immediate help from the merely hungry, tired, and unhappy. Not his job anymore. Not even his job to hop along and point in the right general direction while the more charismatic escapees directed the throng.

Kurt settled next to him. They were both quiet, and the chill in the not particularly friendly spring air made itself known now that they weren't surrounded on all sides by bodies or riding a hell of an adrenaline rush. They sat close, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh. Just because it was cold.


	25. Chapter 25

Getting everyone to a safe place, treated, dressed, fed, and soothed was a logistical nightmare that Kurt slept through. Todd envied that ability as he sat still and watched the world go by. No one expected him to do much but answer questions. He was one of the unfortunates who'd needed rescuing, after all, and it seemed churlish to make him do the busywork. Even his Brotherhood buddies didn't expect much of him beyond being a good sport about getting made fun of for getting himself caught by a bunch of lame-o humans.

He watched the handful of teachers from the Institute, aided by a crabby Callisto, make phone calls and arrangements, bundle groups of kids into vehicles to keep them out of the wet, send Rogue and Kitty up the road to buy out what must have been most of the snacks at the nearest gas station.

They were in the middle of nowhere right on the Vermont boarder. Nothing for miles but the dull-yet-mysterious installation of supposedly military origin. No one bothered about the place too much. Local rumors were of research into nuclear stuff that any sane person would want to steer clear of. Todd wasn't sure why he was keeping track of those tidbits, except that Kurt would probably want to know and was too busy napping on his shoulder to notice.

Todd had never been much of a people-watcher, but it was the only fun thing to do just now. A few of the captured mutants actually had homes to call, people who'd be glad to hear they were safe, and that was kind of nice to listen to. Others were going back with the X-men, and that was a big part of the tangle.

He was listening to Doug and Stacy argue about who got a particular seat on the next bus back to Bayville (not interesting) when Trixie came to drop a blanket on Kurt and hand Todd a sweatshirt. "And how're you, Mr. Grumpy Britches?"

"Chilly. Kinda worn out. Y'know."

"Not really. Where'd your pant leg go?"

"Long story."

"Okay. Is he for real passed out, there?" She pointed at Kurt.

"Prolly. He kinda catnaps a lot."

"Okay, well, whatever. And you're not being a big jerk and yelling at me right now." Trixie frowned. "So."

"So?" Even Todd could tell that was a weighted _so_. "Sup?"

"It's about Jasmine."

He shot her a leery look. "An'... Y'wanna talk about that now?"

"Why not? Everyone's busy with junk. Elementary espionage. You attract attention by acting like a shady weirdo, not by having conversations."

He suspected her reasoning, but whatever. He didn't want to get in another argument today.

"So what about Ma?" He remembered a comment from Dr. Rao and smirked. "Y'know, the freakos in there—they had info on everyone, or me, at least—figured she must be a mutie. Guess that's what they think when there's two of us, huh?"

"Um... Actually..." Trixie's goggles emphasized her shifty-eyed evasion.

"Aw, no way." Todd just gaped at her for a moment. He should just give up on comfortable old cornerstones of his understanding of the world, because he obviously didn't get to keep them. "Howzat even work?" Leaving aside whether he should have known (he hadn't exactly been an observant toddler), shouldn't her life have been easier? Being a mutant screwed you over when it came to the big stuff that everyone wanted, like jobs and stuff, but when you were scraping along on nothing, it was hard to imagine a power that wouldn't help a _little_. Wall crawling and quick, leaping escapes had kept him in stolen wallets and therefore food on many occasions, and he had a pretty dumb power. Even Doug the computer guy could probably have done something with it.

"Not very well. See, so, I wasn't even sure until I got up my nerve and asked to professor to see if he could tell. And he said yeah and he even went to see her with me."

"...Not in the last three days, I bet?" She'd been working on this a while.

"I kinda didn't wanna talk about it until I was sure." She sighed loudly. "'Cus, well, it's a big thing for you, and guess how I feel, because let's be honest, you don't even know her that well."

"Lucky me. So, um, what is it?" He knew mutants whose powers could be hidden, but Ma didn't seem like she'd ever have that kind of presence of mind.

"That's the thing. What she does is... Kind of explode brain chemistry. And processes. And thinking. So moods and sorting out what's real and what isn't and all that stuff just gets scrambled. Pretty much she makes brains act unpredictably wrong. And she's not immune."

Todd tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. "So say she starts up when she's around sixteen."

"Late, but not crazy late, yeah."

"An' suddenly a good girl acts all screwy, gets herself knocked up by a creep, walks out on her family..."

"Yup."

"Shit, none of this was ever her fault..."

"I wouldn't go that far. The one thing it _really_ changes is now we know why the meds never worked very well." Trixie rested her chin in her hands. "And why they never got a good diagnosis. But I don't know if there's a big difference between mutant nuts and just regular nuts."

"Yeah, but somethin' like that, kiddo..." Todd shoved the hair back from his face nervously. "No one would of guessed, specially not back then. How was she supposed to get fixed if they didn't know how she was broken?"

"Maybe, but it's not like she ever worked that hard... I just wanted you to know. Anyway, she's going to do sessions with the professor. Maybe get it under control. The big thing is to keep her from scrambling herself whenever it goes off, and even Professor Xavier didn't really have a guess at how long that could take, since she's been doing it for so long now and some of the damage is probably permanent. Maybe she'll actually be able to shoot confusion rays at people someday, but I wouldn't hold your breath."

Todd had never sorted through his own messy feelings about his mother and he knew he wouldn't be able to begin to suss out Trixie's, but he felt like he should try to do some good. "She wants to do right by us. Y'know that, right?"

"As long as it doesn't get in the way of her doing whatever she feels like."

"Just... Give her a chance? Y'don't gotta call her Ma. A shot. S'all I'm askin', Tiny."

"She's not going to turn into a real mom even if she does stop being crazier than a shithouse rat, y'know." Todd blinked a few times at the language. Trixie didn't mind other people swearing, but she usually restricted herself to seventh-grade caliber insults. "I'd like that, too. ...We can talk about it later. I'm gonna help Jean with stuff." She abruptly stood and walked away.

Todd sighed, closing his eyes. The news was surprising, yeah, but he didn't think it really changed that much for him. Now he was an offshoot of the accident that had wrecked his mother's life, not the accident itself, but that didn't exactly make him feel better about himself. And the burden of a baby had still kept her from going back to her parents (who must have been first-class jerks, but that didn't help) and probably from doing more to help herself.

And it was worse for her. At least if she had just been screwed in the head one of the normal ways, they could work with that, but there wasn't a cure for really shitty mutant thing. Maybe Dr. Rao's research actually would do her some good...

Unless, of course, Trix was right. Right about what, he wasn't sure. Todd drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead there, figuring he'd just hang out until someone told him to do something. He felt Kurt shift a bit on his shoulder and envied his insta-relaxation skills again.

At that particular moment, Kurt was awake and feeling very awkward. He hadn't meant to listen in. He'd only woken up halfway through, nudged out of his doze by the more piercing tones buried in Trixie's voice. He hadn't quite caught on at first and he'd listened while he tried to wake up, and once he had figured out what was going on, he'd decided to play possum rather than admit he knew anything.

Leaving aside the invasion of privacy there, now that he was awake he was aware of a weird crick in his neck from sleeping like this and really wanted to move. Pretending to wake up would push this over from passive to active deception.

He was saved from that particular dilemma by Callisto, who's voice was enough to rouse a bear from hibernation. He didn't even fake jumping and then flailing as he fell off Todd's shoulder. "You joining us coming back, Todd?"

"Back? Oh, um..." Todd looked over to where Pietro and Lance were arguing. They'd come just for him. They still kinda liked him, in their weird way. Besides, there were more complications. "Back where? Don't tell me they left our hideout nice an' tidy for us." He watched Kurt right himself and shake out his bedhead. Heh. Cat.

"Oh, no, it's a mess. We salvaged what we could, but when all our living spaces could be knocked down by kicking, it's no surprise that they did it. _And _we don't know when they might be back. Xavier's been putting us up in the basement of the Institute while we figure out what to do next."

"Ooh, we're classin' up the Morlock stronghold, huh?" Todd was stalling.

"It's definitely drier than the sewer down there," Kurt said, surprising him with a surprisingly bright smile. "We stayed there while the mansion was rebuilt after Mystique managed to blow the place away. It was kind of cramped, but there are a lot less of you than there were of us, ja?"

"Comfy," he said. Come to think, Kurt had a thing about wanting to help the Morlocks more, didn't he? That must be what he was all psyched about.

"Cool. Um, I'm gonna go check with the guys, but... prolly." He turned and hopped away rather abruptly, leaving Kurt and Callisto watching him in mild confusion.

Lance shot him a thumbs-up as he leaped over to them, and he didn't think Pietro was ignoring him on purpose. He seemed flustered about something. The difference between agitated Pietro and regular, everyday Pietro was a very fine line, but he'd gotten pretty good at spotting it.

"'Sup, fools?"

"I usually feel pretty good after I take out some anti-mutant crazies," Lance said in perfectly satisfied tones. "Plus..." He nodded over to Kitty, who laughed and waved back.

"Nice," Todd said noncommittally. Usually they'd tease him, but there was a point where you only embarrassed yourself when you laughed at a guy for scoring. And he'd developed some perspective on the whole thing. "How you guys gettin' back?"

"Same way we got here." Lance nodded at his baby, parked a ways off, with a distinct "are you stupid" look. "It's a couple hours. Better not rain." Putting the top down with Freddy in the car was basically impossible. "It might be kind of a tight fit. We don't usually all cram in..."

"Pietro!" Both Todd and Lance glanced over to enjoy Quicksilver's reliably entertaining cringing when his sister yelled at him. "_What_ did you say to Lorna?"

"What? I... Pretty much not anything!"

"That's what I thought. She is coming back with us and you're getting one more undeserved chance to make something halfway right in this family."

"Um, I guess I'll see if I can get a ride with the X-geeks, then..." Lance said, looking over at Kitty again.

Todd wouldn't have begrudged him that if this weren't so convenient. "Nah, y'let Wanda drive an' she'll bring the princess home with two flats an' no fenders." Girl drove angry. And Pietro was too much of a spaz to allow behind the wheel. He could probably just run home, but that'd spoil Wanda's plan and no one wanted that. "I'll hitch a ride with the Morlocks."

"...Okay. But, you know, stop by sometime."

"Aw, man, don't get weird." Actually, he was rather touched, but he could no more express that than Lance could get across the initial sentiment. It was okay. They were all fluent in emotionally stunted teenage boy. He headed back to join Callisto. Kurt had wandered off to help translate for the creepy twins and family, and Todd decided not to catch him for a goodbye.

Half of him said that Kurt had stuck with him this long and that was hardly going to change now. The other half insisted that things in there had gotten too weird, that for Nightcrawler to still want to hang with him would require acknowledging sleeping together and allowing for moments of weakness that shouldn't have been shared with anyone. And the impulse that told him he wasn't worth it was always the one he'd believe.

Besides, they were going to the same place. He crammed into a fairly wretched old plumber's van that smelled of cigar smoke and weird chemicals, tucked between Lucid and Cybelle, and steeled himself for a long haul home.

He fell asleep ten minutes in. Sometimes exhaustion could do what nothing else managed.

* * *

There were enough rooms in the basement to accommodate the Morlocks comfortably. They even still had beds and furniture from when the students had been encamped. Todd opted out of a roommate and wound up with a room that looked like it had probably been intended as a closet, but it was damn spacious compared with his spot in the sewer and a palace next to a creepy prison cell. Now he could just get over being in the Institute and how nervy it made him.

The Locks hadn't saved much of his stuff. If you weren't a natural tinkerer, it was hard to tell what among his bits of machinery was broken beyond repair. But Callisto had picked up his book-box, handing it over with a wink. He kind of hoped she hadn't looked inside, but it didn't really matter if she had. He wasn't cool enough for juicy secrets.

Sitting in the basement of the enemy compound, really wanting company and not feeling at all up to finding it was probably not the idea time for a trip down memory lane. He told himself he just wanted to make sure nothing had been damaged.

The photographs were all old and the damage went back years. When he was nine, a school counselor had helped him laminate them, so while the spots and stains remained, they were part of the picture nowadays, as far as he was concerned. The letters and cards he'd crammed into comic book sleeves or plastic bags, since that was easier than figuring out where the laminator was in subsequent schools and breaking in.

He had them spread out on the bedside table when a knock on the door made him jump. "Yeah?" Probably Callisto again.

"Hi, we have pie," Trixie announced as she threw the door open. "Pie for everybody, even if they are hiding out and being an antisocial butt."

Eh, what the hell. "I like pie." He got up and walked to the door. There were, as promised, three pies sitting on an aluminum cart, with Jean and Kitty handing out slices.

"Don't worry," Trixie said comfortingly. "Kitty didn't make it."

"I heard that!"

Todd nodded, though he was, despite himself, looking around for a glimpse of blue. It emerged from the room Torpid was sharing with Scaleface. Kurt had the little girl on his shoulders, and while it looked like putting her down gently did require more effort than it should have, he smiled at her anyway. She'd kind of taken to following him around like a puppy after he'd brought her new toys.

...Actually, he kind of got that.

"So, um, pie?" he commented quietly once the furball was close enough to hear.

"I guess they wanted people to have something good happen to them today." Kurt shrugged expansively. "So, well, everybody likes pie. It was already served around upstairs, but we had to chase you since Facade just brought sandwiches down for you guys. You want chocolate or blueberry?"

"Chocolate."

"Good choice."

"It has coffee in it," Kitty said dryly.

"Coffee is amazing." Kurt grinned at her shamelessly. "I'd be passed out by now otherwise."

"You mean like everyone told you to do?" Jean asked, rolling her eyes a little.

"Sleeping is boring." Actually, he just didn't want to be alone in a dark room. He wasn't ready to have only his thoughts for company. Being silly was as great a defense mechanism as always. He handed Todd his slice with a bow that he intended to evoke fancy French dining but looked more like a cross between drunk ballet and a Japanese greeting.

Todd caught the plate with both hands before Kurt dropped it. "Go to bed, Crawler."

"Nein. Can't make me."

"Hey, Todd, this is your room?" Trixie called before he could get the response he deserved for that. "Gotta remember to come and bug you and... Oh, wow, look what a cute baby I was!"

"Trix, get outta there..." Todd sighed and walked after her.

Kurt watched them for a few seconds too long. Kitty elbowed him. "Oh, look, an extra piece of caffeine pie. Better stay down here and eat it."

"Um..." She set the plate firmly in his hands, nodded toward Todd's room, and turned to help Jean clean up. He took the hint and headed over, but he stopped in the doorway.

"Kurt, come see how cute I was!" Trixie called cheerfully.

He looked at Todd, who shrugged, and figured that was as good as an invitation. Kurt sat on the edge of the bed, taking a bite as she held up a not very good picture of what looked to him like an ordinary enough baby being held by a nurse. He was aware you were supposed to approve of babies, at least, so he nodded. "Ja, cute."

"And here's frogface over here." She handed him another photo, this one of a girl he recognized as a much more fresh-faced, cheerful Jasmine with a rather uncomfortable-looking guy in his mid-twenties who screamed skeevy. He tried not to pay any attention to the man, but he couldn't pretend he wasn't interested. He couldn't miss that Todd had his father's nose. It had apparently even been broken in roughly the same way at some point.

What was more interesting was that the baby in the picture looked pretty normal to him. From what Todd had said, he'd have guessed that anyone could have glanced over and seen something out of the ordinary, but this seemed to be a flesh-colored, squirmy bundle of bog-standard child.

Todd must have noticed his surprise. "Had my mouth closed. Can't see my hands, neither."

"Babies kind of all look the same to me. At least I'd have been able to tell which one you were, ja?" He realized he'd been holding the picture a bit too long, probably, and handed it back to Trixie.

"Wouldn't you of been kinda not born yet?"

"Ja, well..." He peeked over Todd's shoulder but carefully avoided looking at the letters. That was a different level of personal entirely. There was only one more picture, this a department store portrait of an even younger Jasmine with a bland looking, middle aged couple.

Trixie kept him from having to ask. "I haven't seen this one."

"Ma ain't the kind to go savin' negatives." Todd shrugged.

"Why do you even have it?"

"'Cus I like seein' her, well, happy, I guess." He shrugged and looked over at Kurt. "These'd be the grandparents who kicked out a pregnant teenager."

"I guessed," he said uncomfortably. "I guess I should leave you two..."

"Don't worry, I got homework to do. I'm out. Bye, boys." Trixie bounced off the bed. Hard to say if she was faking the smile or not. She disappeared rather quickly and slammed the door behind her.

"What's with her?"

"Family stuff is weirder than usual today." Todd shrugged and picked everything up, shuffling it inside a textbook with the middle sliced out. Clever.

"Oh." He was quiet a moment. "You look as tired as I am. Should I leave you alone?"

"Nah. Um, I mean, no rush." He leaned against the wall, bringing his knees up under his chin. "Gonna finish that?"

Kurt looked down at the mostly-eaten slice of pie he'd been working his way through steadily. There was no indication he _wasn't_ going to finish it. Oh, well. He speared the last good sized-bite worth and held up his fork. "Here."

He expected Todd to catch it with his tongue, but he leaned in and bit it off the normal way. It was adorable.

...This wasn't going to work. Maybe this wasn't a good time, with both of them exhausted, and freaked out, but there'd probably never be a good time to declare his feelings for a former enemy who was also a guy and from an entirely different world. But he'd seen what ridiculous ways people twisted themselves up pretending not to like each other. Jean and Scott's little melodrama had put him off seeing mutual pining as romantic for life. He was sure it had been bad enough for Todd, but he couldn't do anything about that.

Of course, resolution aside, he had no idea what you were supposed to do to break romantic tension. He also wasn't sure what he wanted to do once he'd made it clear. Were they going to go for pizza and to the movies like a normal couple? That was hard to picture. Hard to get started without an endgame in mind. Feelings. Yuck. "So, um, how are you? You kind of disappeared in there..."

"Just went back with the Locks is all, fool."

"Locks? Is that official?"

"Prolly Callisto'll swat me for it. Happens."

"Okay. Well, you still hid down here once you got back. Unless you were getting some sleep?"

"Nah. I mean, you gonna sleep anytime soon?"

_Not alone, I'm not_, he very nearly said. "So...?"

"So I was bein' bitchy. Happens sometimes. Y'blame me?" Todd huffed. "Besides, I'm still pissed, Mr. I'm gonna throw myself on a bomb."

"It would have worked."

"Yup."

Kurt was quiet, wondering if this gulf needed to be breached just to be friends, all else aside. "There were little kids in that room. Plus, you know, all those people, and who knows who might have been up or down a floor." Todd didn't look convinced. Worried, he reached over and caught the other boy's hand. The heat of his palm made Kurt shiver.

Well, _that_ was kind of stupid. They'd spent another night in the same bed since he'd figured this out, admittedly not quite as close as the other ones. Holding hands shouldn't be this intense. It was just because he was generally wound up, he was sure.

Todd cracked a bit of a smile. "Ain't that just like you, huh, Nightcreeper?" He didn't pull his hand away. Kurt had the odd impression that the air was charged like a storm was about to strike, that the room had darkened strangely everywhere but right where his eyes rested, that his heartbeat was unreasonably loud but every other sound muted by an odd buzz.

Kurt made his decision. "Jawohl." He leaned forward, a little too fast and unsteadily, so that he had to catch himself with one hand on Todd's shoulder. He'd considered going for the cheek, but this was really an all-or-nothing situation. Either screwed or not, he helped himself to a soft kiss on Todd's mouth.


	26. Chapter 26

Todd had been mentally busy, if uncommunicative. The trouble was that one of the big reasons Kurt captivated him was the hero thing. If he weren't the guy who'd throw himself on the grenade, then he wouldn't be Kurt. He wouldn't be perfectly, incredibly, infuriatingly nuts. And it made him crazy. Coming so close to losing the first thing he'd let himself care about this way was heartbreaking. He'd only intended to put a little distance between them, give them a chance to walk back from the weirdness during their imprisonment, but maybe it'd have to be more. Probably couldn't do that living under the same roof, either...

The hand holding had thrown his train of thought for a loop, but rather than fading away, all the unpleasant ideas had taken flight and buzzed around his head, distracting him, making him more irritable than the circumstances really required.

And then the world turned upside down.

Todd had for months been developing the strange pocket of headspace that let him daydream while he kept himself basically functioning in reality. In his mind he did what he'd have liked with Kurt and, in the way of dreams, his lithe and lovely sapphire sweetie reciprocated. While the real, physical Todd and Kurt talked about nonsense all night or dared a race through the trees at the park at night (ground is lava) or split a package of twinkies, the ones in his imagination cuddled and whispered. He'd gotten really good at it, so good it was enough.

And now, while his head was full of every unwelcome reality, his real self went from holding hands to an off-kilter, chocolate-flavored kiss.

Initially he kind of short circuited. Instinct kicked in first. He raised one arm and had almost dropped it onto Kurt's shoulders when every hated voice that had ever hissed from the back of his mind piped up at once.

This couldn't be happening, because he didn't get things he wanted, because he _shouldn't_, he wasn't fucking worth it, he didn't deserve it, it just didn't work that way. He knew all that with a cold surety, but he also felt Kurt's mouth against his, and it was so, _so_ much better than he'd ever imagined. The idea that he was wanted, that someone wonderful was touching him and claiming him was too big, too new and strange. He couldn't process it. What he could process was self-loathing.

For all Kurt's daring, he was too nervous to really enjoy this kiss on its own. He focused on making it as nice as he could. At least _somebody_ should be happy. This was the way Amanda had liked being kissed, gentle and lingering, catching the lower lip between his and teasing with just the littlest bit of pressure. He felt pretty stupid, using his ex for a cue, but it wasn't like he had a lot of outside experience.

But for all his nerves and concern over minutiae, he had long enough to breathe, let a few heartbeats go by. He was beginning to relax when Todd shoved him off. He was way off balance and he nearly tumbled off the bed. Of course, if Todd had really pushed him he'd have gone across the room, but it still stung.

Apparently he'd made the wrong choice. His gaze dropped the the floor and he couldn't find his voice. Being rejected sucked, of course, and he knew that intellectually as well as he'd known he was taking a risk. That didn't mean he'd by any means been ready for it.

"The _hell_ is wrong with you?" Todd's voice was hard and a little high pitched. He didn't sound angry, though, and Kurt forced himself to look up. No, not angry, closer to scared.

He was hurt and vulnerable, but the fact that Todd looked about the same way let him dredge out the courage to speak again. "That I wanted to kiss you, but I didn't expect that to be a problem..." Even now, trying for a joke.

"You messin' with me, X-geek?"

When had he last been X-geek? As anything other than a joke, anyway. Now there was the old vitriol in it again. "Yes, because that's what I do. I kiss people when I want to mess with them." He watched Todd carefully. He didn't know what was going on, but it didn't feel quite like he was being told to fuck off.

Todd was leaning away from him. The fabric of his sweatshirt was all bunched where he pressed against the wall and the back of his neck was white from the pressure. His jaw was set and his eyes wide. Gott, he just wanted to fix whatever was wrong. "Todd?" He raised a hand toward the other boy, inching it slowly forward.

"Knock it off!" His voice was still shrill. "What the hell possesses sweet little goody-goody, orphan-savin', gonna journalist the world into bein' nice an' jump on bombs until it works Kurt Wagner to mack on _me_?"

So lost. But with Todd so obviously upset that he couldn't stand it, Kurt did his best to answer. "Probably because he thinks you're sweet und brave und your nose is cute." He resolutely moved closer. Todd didn't stop trying to sink into the wall. If he kept looking so scared, Kurt would have to go. How did he fix this?

"My goddamn smashed up nose. Uh-huh." He leaned toward the corner, but this looked less like an attempt to escape and more like he just needed the support.

Better? "Ja, how did you do that?" Kurt knelt on the bed now, stalling, trying a crooked smile. Teasing might work. About a foot separated them. Too close and too far.

"I din' do nothin', fool. Some wall did. Cus, see, some football dude whose wallet I took threw me at it." He'd managed to make himself look even smaller, crunched into the corner like that. "That's me. That's the kinda shit I do. So, I ask again, the fuck's wrong with you?"

"Oh!" Now it made sense. And made him angry, but he pushed that away for the moment. "Oh... Oh, Todd, Liebling..." He held out both hands. Todd hesitated, but he took them. "You are _amazing_," he said quietly. The hand on his back that horrible night, the string cross around his neck, the mere possibility of looking at blue fur and pointed ears and seeing a person. And those were just _selfish_ reasons to hold Todd in high esteem.

Todd scooted closer. It didn't feel like a proper snuggle to Kurt, but baby steps. He could get his arms around stooped shoulders now, and press his cheek to the other boy's. That was good.

For his part, Todd had to work hard not to shake. Every sensation was bizarre and overwhelming, almost more than wonderful. The fine, velvety fuzz against his skin, the thin arms holding him solidly, the breath stirring his hair right behind his ear. He couldn't possibly be here, but he was.

There was, he decided, a very slim possibility that he was dreaming. This wasn't like any dream he'd ever had, but his brain was pretty weird. So if it was a dream, he should take advantage while it lasted, and if it wasn't... Well, he still had no idea how to deal with that, but sitting here trying not to sob and upsetting Kurt definitely wasn't the answer. Plan dream it would have to be.

Which meant he was going to kiss Kurt. _That_ wasn't a hell of a lot of pressure or anything. It should be easy to do something you'd imagined a thousand times, but that actually made it way harder. With so many ideas bouncing around in his head, which did he pick? And how high were the chances that (even under the calming dream scenario) Kurt would come to his senses and stop this crap? Dammit.

Like any over-planned maneuver, his execution wasn't exactly stellar. He missed for a second, pressing his mouth to Kurt's chin, and hastily slid up to correct the error, rubbing fuzz the wrong way. But he got there.

His stolen kiss on Wanda had been painfully disappointing, and he'd been too shocked to take in a lot a second ago. For the first time he was kissing and being kissed back and he felt it down to his webby toes, and that made his heart pound far more than Kurt's mouth on his. Not that that was anything but awesome. Now that he'd given in, Todd was hungry, clumsy, his hands tight on Kurt's shoulders as he lost himself in the impossible.

He'd forgotten that Kurt was still awkwardly kneeling on a squishy-soft mattress, so he was surprised when, a few seconds in, he overbalanced them. At least they didn't fall off the bed, but the landing was still a bit messy.

Todd was mortified, but Kurt laughed. "Points for enthusiasm. Better now?" Kurt was making mental adjustments too. Mostly admonishing himself for thinking of Amanda again, as Todd seemed to be her perfect opposite. As kisses went, that had been as passionate and fierce as anything he and his girlfriend had managed after months, but while she was comically chaste about kissing, she'd always been very open otherwise. Hugging Amanda was all softness and easy intimacy. Todd was stiff even as he kissed, still leaning away from him, inches between them and muscles still rigid.

Kurt didn't like that. He was on his back and Todd still had himself propped up on his hands, so the approach was a little tricky. He rolled halfway up and shoved himself on his shoulder to press a nuzzling kiss to Todd's cheek, then hooked his arms around the other boy's shoulders to tug him down.

Todd was stronger than he was, and not quite able to go from panicked resistance to gleeful, teasing affection in a matter of seconds. Even if he'd been able to believe this was really happening, the kissing stuff didn't come naturally. It was like trying to play flag football in gradeschool gym class all over again. Everyone else seemed to know the rules and have plenty of practice, and here he was trying to figure out what was even going on. He'd just gotten to the point with the kissing thing and apparently they were moving on already.

He wound up with Kurt hanging off his neck. He realized a second later that he was probably supposed to fall down on the bed with him, which did sound nice, but it seemed too late to follow through now. And Kurt looked kind of hurt again. Todd sighed.

"Do you not want to do this?" Kurt asked, accent a little thicker the way it was when he was tired or really into something, voice wavery. He was so damn cute.

"Fuck yes I wanna do this. I just suck at it." Something was just _fucking broken_ in his head, and it was going to lose him the best thing that could ever conceivably happen to him. "Sorry. I just... Not like I know what I'm doin', y'know? Nobody but you's been this crazy." He sat back up and looked over at the wall.

Kurt's arms wrapped around him again. "If you say mean things about yourself I won't kiss you again." When Todd turned to look at him incredulously, he got nuzzled again. Just quickly. "If you want me to stop I'll leave you alone right now. Otherwise, I'm keeping you."

"God dammit, fuzzy..." Todd sighed. "Okay, try this. Tell me what I'm doin' wrong."

A weird idea, but so was kissing the Toad to begin with. Kurt wouldn't have done it if he weren't willing to leave behind a few ideas about how romance was supposed to work. Though it did put the onus on him to communicate coherently when he'd much rather shut his brain off. He thought about it and decided there was just one big thing.

"Stop running away from me," he said firmly. He left one arm where it was, resting on Todd's shoulders, but the other slid down (provoking a sharp little intake of breath from Todd that he took as a good sign) to wrap around his waist and draw them properly together. Finally. It was Kurt's turn for a pleasant little shiver slithering down his spine as Todd returned the hug for real.

Todd hadn't realized he was trying to lean away until Kurt made him stop. It was unnatural to get this close to someone without a ready escape plan or intent to body slam, but he fought the impulse to resist and was rewarded with body heat, pleasant brain fog, and a kiss on the forehead. He barely kept from making noise when Kurt's fingers ran down his side, and there was a little bit of a gaspy thing that definitely wasn't an embarrassing squeak as he was pulled close. "Oh, yeah, that's much better," he said weakly.

"Gut." Kurt squeezed him tight for a moment, then leaned against him, nuzzling against the crook of his neck with a small sigh.

They were quiet for a moment, and then Todd spotted the telltale signs of an oncoming Nightcrawler nap. And while that was really endearing, it was also totally unfair. "Aw, no, you don't drop this bomb on me an' go to sleep."

"But you're comfy," Kurt said, speaking against his neck. The half-grumpy, kittenish tone and the brush of soft fur on oddly sensitive skin made him shiver, but Todd didn't back down.

"Nah-uh."

"Ja, fine, you're pointy, but I'm really tired and the _bed_ is comfy and I like sleeping with you."

Todd swallowed. He was pretty sure that was an accident. They had, after all, repeatedly slept together. Just... literally. Which was what Crawler was talking about, of course. "Well, yeah, okay, but... C'mon, no naps while I try an' figure out just what's wrong with yah an' how I keep it that way."

Kurt sat up and smiled at him crookedly, shaggy hair escaping his ponytail to hang around his face. "You did it again."

"Huh?"

"No kisses for you unless you stop picking on yourself."

"Maybe I oughtta let you sleep after all." Not that he wasn't frequently this goofy. It was just dialed up high by stress and exhaustion. Probably.

"Nein, you're right, I shouldn't fall asleep on you." Kurt frowned, considering. "But the bed's going to make me want to. Want to go up on the roof?I'll port us there."

Todd debated it. It really might be nice to get some fresh air. He wasn't a proponent of the stuff normally, but maybe he'd breathed enough enclosed, subterranean spaces for a while. And it was chilly enough that not only would it keep Kurt awake, but they'd probably have to cuddle up to stay warm.

Unfortunately, there were complications, too. "Besides us, there's at least one wall-crawler here, who's kinda my sister, plus maybe some more in the batch you guys brought home, plus prolly some fliers..."

"Point taken. I know just the thing." He caught Todd's shoulders and kissed him as they teleported. Kurt thought it might be a good distraction from being kidnapped. It certainly seemed to work. Todd didn't try to hang back from him, and he even felt like he might be relaxing a little. The muscles in his back and shoulders weren't completely stiff and locked, anyway.

Todd pressed against Kurt as they landed and the cool air slid right through the prison jumpsuit he still had on and the old hoodie Trixie had tossed him. His feet were bare. While it was totally not beyond him to go out in a chilly, misty night with no shoes or jacket, he still felt Kurt should have checked. But the cuddling was alright.

He'd corrected his balance automatically as they'd landed, but out of curiosity he looked around. They were sitting in a gnarled old tree about fifty feet from the school building. It wasn't quite dark out yet, but the grim day led to everyone who had them turning on all the lights, and from this distance the Institute looked all cheerful and orderly and just the kind of place he didn't belong.

Before he could think about that for more than a second, Kurt kissed him on the cheek again and ruffled his hair. Todd tried to lean against him, wobbled, and almost fell off the branch. Kurt caught him and made a tiny jump to keep him from falling.

"Could of just hit the ground an' come back up, y'know," Todd said, trying to disguise the way his heart was beating over being rescued from his own crappy balance.

"Nein, not a good idea. It's pretty heavily booby-trapped right around here."

"Awesome." In case he ever forgot this place was totally bugfuck nuts. "Didn't think this through, didja?"

"Did so. Here." Kurt swung one leg over so he was sitting astride the branch and beckoned Todd over. He did the same thing, snuggling his back up to Kurt's chest. Warm and more than comfy enough to make up for sitting on a damp branch, especially when Kurt hugged him and rested his chin on Todd's shoulder with a contented sigh.

Todd just enjoyed it for a moment. He was starting to get past the impossibility enough to talk about something else, at least for now. "So, um, what now."

Kurt made that grumbly noise again. He seemed to do that whenever he had to stop acting like a lazy house cat, and Todd just hadn't been close enough to catch the low rumble before. It was as much vibration as noise. "Well, Friday do you want to go see a movie where everything blows up, und then we can get a pizza at Jolly Rodger's?" A bit of a snort escaped Todd before he could stop himself. "Ja, I just thought I'd ask."

"Hold on, I'm still goin' through the reasons that's stupid."

"Okay. So, if jerks wouldn't murder us for being, you know, and then also for being mutants, and our friends wouldn't freak, would you go to a stupid movie and make out with me?"

"...Yes." That was buried in enough hypotheticals to be safe, weird as the idea was all on its own. Maybe if he ever really got it into his head that Kurt liked him he could begin to confront dating and relationships as a reality that might actually have some bearing on him.

"It's a start." Kurt pulled Todd's hair aside a little and kissed right where his jaw met his ear. The ensuing jump nearly knocked them both out of the tree again.

"Jeeze..." He couldn't see very well from back here, but Todd's cheeks were red. It was a good look for him. He could use a little color.

"Ja, I'm not going to apologize, but maybe I'll wait until we're on the ground to try that again." Kurt sighed. He kept playing with Todd's hair because he hadn't been warned off that. He wanted all he could get. "So what does that make us? If we can't, well, do things?"

Todd breathed in a little raggedly, trying to make his brain work. Every time he thought he had something the hairball had to derail him again. "We can't do, like, that stuff. But we could, y'know, do what _we _do."

"Sit in trees and talk about nothing?"

"Like that, but also this, where you won't stop pettin' me."

"I like your stupid fluffy hair." Kurt let go of the loose curl he'd been playing with and pretended to bite at it instead.

"How tired are you again?"

"_So_ tired." Kurt gave him another quick squeeze. "So we're going to just keep doing stuff, only now it's a... relation-date-ship thing?"

"Thanks, Mr. Journalist. You got such a way with words." Todd made himself relax a little more, resting his head on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt took the opportunity to kiss his neck. Once they'd flailingly righted themselves again, Todd twisted around to glare. "Gravity, Crawler. Goddamn."

"Sorry, sorry. Ground only." Sort of fascinating what a hair-trigger Todd had. Kurt was pretty responsive too, but he didn't think he'd ever gotten close to tipping out of a chair when timidly necking with Amanda. And he was _almost_ sure he didn't squeak and gasp that way, but he wasn't mentioning the noises to Todd. Todd might be returning the favor.

"Take us back an' you can get your stupid nap."

"Good choice." Kurt noted and resisted the urge to nibble again while he made the jump back to Todd's room. They landed in a pile on the bed, not a big teleporting screw up, just a bit of a sleepy mistake. He wrapped his arms around Todd's shoulders and dropped onto the bed with a sigh. This time, at least, he pulled Todd with him. "I win," he said, to no one and about nothing in particular.

Todd raised his head to hit the light switch with his tongue, then obediently snuggled up to Kurt. This wasn't _really_ closer than they'd been in their prison cell, but resting his head on Kurt's shoulder on purpose and without worrying about it made a lot of difference.

This was totally nuts. Absolutely insane. Even after all Kurt's weird, teasing remonstrances, he knew for a fact that he didn't deserve this and that it couldn't possibly be true. He knew that despite feeling Kurt's breathing even out beside him and the fuzzy hand resting on his back. Todd closed his eyes, but he didn't expect to sleep.


	27. Chapter 27

Kurt stayed down for about an hour, and Todd spent all that time staring into the gray not-quite-darkness. His state of mind flickered from moment to moment. Sometimes all he could do was focus on the sound of Kurt breathing or the addictive scent of soft fur, under the disinfectant and battle dust and chocolate pie. Sometimes his brain proved to be totally bizarre (_that_ was nothing he didn't know about) and he couldn't stop wondering what his sister was going to say or whether the judicious use of the image inducer might make life a little easier. Mostly, though, he tried to force coherency through the blanket of shock.

All his objections were totally legit and he had every reason to be gun-shy. This didn't make sense and every other piece of undeserved good fortune that had ever come his way had turned out to be more crap in disguise. But every time Kurt shifted beside him and he felt the shift of velvet fur, he cared a little less.

By the hour's end, he'd won his way through his own mental blocks and self-sabotage. He just put it in the back of his mind that this could only end in something shitty and that Kurt was probably just coasting until something decent came along. This was awesome.

Kurt woke up to the top of Todd's head nestled under his chin. The cozy closeness made him practically purr. This was what he wanted. He kissed the top of Todd's head, still fluffy and soft from those forced showers.

That was probably going to become an issue. But one for later.

"Hi," he said quietly. Being able to see in the dark wasn't quite enough to tell him whether Todd was blushing, but he kind of hoped it. "Well, I feel better."

"Y'know, if I wanted a cat, I could get one. They ain't that hard to find." Todd spoke acidly, but Kurt could make out the crooked little smile he wore. "So, uh, now what?"

Kurt was going to answer, but nothing immediately occurred to him, so he stole what he intended to be a quick kiss. But it lingered for a moment extra, long enough for Todd to wrap his wonderfully strong arms around Kurt's shoulders and hold on. Kurt held him just as tightly, and it was minutes later when he convinced himself to stop.

"Hold on, I did have a real answer." Though as he opted to speak into Todd's ear, he might not have _really_ been getting back on track. He made himself lean back a little. That didn't help at all, and not only because Todd just leaned forward and kept cuddling. "Am I magnetic?"

"Hey, you ever been around people when they start goin' out?" Todd griped, cheek pressed against Kurt's shoulder. "I got every right to not take my hands off for a week. Specially since I can't do it when there's people around."

"I wasn't complaining." He knew exactly what Todd meant, but he did want to talk for at least a little bit. "So, um... The professor's not sending me back to school for a couple days. He wants more checkups and a psychiatric evaluation and stuff..." Almost of their own accord, his fingertips began to trace little swirls along the back of Todd's neck. He was pretty sure the shiver that resulted was a good thing. "But I do have some stuff to do. Like get in touch with my parents, though that'll be tomorrow..." He meant to explain that the time difference meant he'd wake them up. They'd heard that he was safe and Storm had assured him they'd agreed to go to bed. Todd liked his parents and this was probably information of at least a little interest, but he was too busy to keep talking, stroking down along Todd's spine, teasing with the softest little touches. He was a little concerned by the way he could feel spine through two layers of cloth, but the little bit that upset him was offset by the way Todd jumped and grinned at him every time his fingers changed direction.

Todd had to steel himself to talk, sitting stiffly for a moment. "What was the real answer, fuzzbutt?"

"Oh." Damn. "Well, I have a maybe temporary roommate. Remember the guy who levitated the woman who stopped us getting blown up? Julian. So we might as well chill down here, but I do have to start doing stuff again in the morning."

"So." Todd raised his eyebrows with a bit of a smirk. "You gotta do stuff an' go places, but not now, an' that was a good thing to interrupt me for?"

"Um..."

"'Cus all I hear is, I got weird priorities, now wanna make out for like six hours?"

"God yes." He was just a little distressed to realize Todd had just proven he was the sensible one, but he wouldn't worry too hard about it. There was way too much kissing to be done.

Todd seemed to finally be past his shyness, and Kurt was thrilled to find him cuddling back now. Kissing was fantastic and all, but not worrying that Todd didn't want to be here made it a lot better. And then there was the increasingly interesting fact that Todd's skin had a very unique texture, surprisingly cool and almost too smooth. He'd kind of known that, but he hadn't _thought_ about it.

Comfortable with letting Kurt lead, Todd mostly hung on and smooched. Sometimes Kurt was gentle and the next thing to shy, and then a moment later biting almost too hard on Todd's lip. He kind of hoped biting wasn't going to be a thing. Those were sharp teeth. But before he could worry too much, something nice would happen again. He liked the stroking more than the kissing, even, the soft little patterns Kurt's fingers traced on his neck and shoulders and down his back. He almost objected when Kurt's hand slid under the sweatshirt, but it was even better with just one layer of cloth in the way and he sighed happily instead.

Then Kurt kissed his neck again. He didn't have the complaint that the shock was going to knock him out of a tree this time, but it was so intense it didn't feel that great anymore. He balked, but didn't want to say anything, and then he felt teeth. "Ow!"

"Oh, Gott, I'm sorry." Kurt pulled away immediately. His eyes were all Todd could really see and the effect wasn't that comforting. "I hurt you?"

"Not really." Todd wanted to take it back. "Like, not hurt-hurt. Like... what was that?"

"I don't know. It just felt like a good idea." The eyes closed to narrow slits.

"Well... Go slower, maybe? I dunno, man, I might be kinda broken." He got that idea now that the initial confusion had passed. Biting did seem like it fell in the broad category of vague things he'd absorbed as being "sexy."

"Nein. I should have asked." Kurt lifted a hand, hesitated, and lowered it again with a sigh. He'd screwed up. Again.

After a moment, Todd moved back in for a hug. "S-slow," he said, stammering. Before Kurt could tell him to stop if he didn't want to do stuff, he started the regular kissing up again.

Kurt was a little stiff for a moment, but he couldn't resist soft cool skin and broad hands on his back, and he relaxed again. He wasn't going to do anything wrong again. He'd never had trouble with Amanda, right? Who'd have thought that Todd Tolansky would be more delicate than the shiest girl in school?

Well, _Todd_ could have guessed that. He'd always figured he was screwed in the head that way, as with all others. This was supposed to be the big, important thing that all else led up to, and all he wanted to do was breathe in the smell of Kurt's hair and be snuggled. Feeling bad for spoiling Kurt's fun, he tightened his grip around Kurt's shoulders and tilted his head a bit, trying to invite him to do it again without having to make things awkward by saying so.

It took a minute, and Kurt tentatively began to nuzzle at the side of his neck. Todd shivered and even he caught the squeaky little gasp that time, but Kurt was being slow and gentle. It was just under the overwhelming threshold and Todd discovered quickly that this was a fantastic place to be. He let Kurt hold most of his weight, inhaling sharply every time Kurt's lips moved against his throat. He thought the pressure was increasing a little, but he didn't mind. He had time to get used to it and nothing mattered except the electric shivers and feeling so incredibly wanted.

Kurt was very glad for it, too. After all, he enjoyed kissing and nibbling his way over smooth skin, but he'd have been bored pretty fast without the wonderful little noises and quivers and knowing Todd was loving it. _Just let this go right._

Both of them froze as a quiet, gently accented voice suddenly boomed in their heads. "As I'm sure you could both have figured out with a little effort, the letter of the law states only that students may not be in opposite-sex students' rooms after curfew, but the spirit of the law is quite clear."

Kurt collapsed onto the bed like the fainting heroine of a melodrama. "Kill me now."

"Professor X is kinda a dick, man."

"Mmph." Kurt made a noise suspiciously like a growl and reluctantly got up. "So... I guess I'm going to bed. I didn't even think it was that late."

"Can't be past seven."

"Maybe I have a special curfew now." Kurt closed his eyes a moment and kissed Todd's cheek, lingering in a way that kept the gesture from seeming perfunctory. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I'll even think of something to do besides make out."

"Aw, we are _fancy_, all of a sudden." He caught Kurt's hands and held on for a long moment. He really, really didn't want the furball to go. "How long d'yah figure we could get away with stayin'?"

"Until we get yelled at again? Ew." His fur was standing up with crawly discomfort. "Well, good, more problems. I'm never sure how much he knows. I mean, he can't listen to everyone, all the time. We definitely get away with stuff. Und he doesn't usually talk right into your head unless it's an emergency." Kurt was aware he was babbling, and he held Todd's hands tightly right back. It wasn't fair. The professor was definitely teasing him, and while he was in favor of teasing as a rule, this was really hard already. And it wasn't like he'd do anything stupid. _Maybe_ he'd just pushed further in a couple hours with Todd than months with Amanda, and maybe he'd had a few lurid ideas flutter across his mind, but he wasn't stupid. Or ready for that at all. The rule was there to prevent pretty specific stuff, wasn't it? Probably necessary in a co-ed boarding school, but shouldn't there be an exception if... Well, actually, he wasn't sure how that'd work. He was just annoyed about it. He didn't want to be anywhere but snuggled up with Todd.

"So... later?"

"Ja, later." Kurt kissed Todd's forehead.

"You behave, okay?" Todd worked very hard to sound casual. "Yer still all beat up from that place."

"Like you're in awesome shape?" Kurt snickered. "Don't worry, I'm being good. I want as much use of my tail back as I can get." A little strain crept into his tone and Todd squeezed his hands reassuringly. Kurt hugged him once more and then ported.

He landed in his bed. The room was dark. Kurt guessed Julian was caught somewhere in any one of many traffic jams the building was suffering as a result of the sudden increase in residents. Good. He was both annoyed and a bit disheveled and didn't need company. He smoothed his hair down and straightened his shirt without needing to turn the light on.

The clock's green glow informed him it was 7:52. While Todd's estimate had been off, curfew was hours away. Meaning the Professor presumably wanted him for something and had chosen an incredibly cringe-inducing interruption to get his attention. Which, he begrudgingly admitted, was probably the way to go.

He meant to stomp his way to the office and hopefully work off the humiliation and annoyance on the way, rather than port and show up in a bad mood. The plan was interrupted when he nearly banged straight into Jean as he stepped into the hallway.

She gave him a very odd look, but he knew she didn't read minds without asking without reason. Maybe it was just the look on his face. He hoped it was. "Oh, sorry, were you finally sleeping, Kurt? I wasn't sure where you'd ended up, and the Professor sent me here."

Ah. "Oh, ja." Lying to telepaths was such a great idea. "It's okay." Not her fault, he reminded himself. "What's up?"

"Nothing really urgent, if you want to go back to bed."

He considered it, but frankly the fur on the back of his neck was still bristly from that interruption and he wasn't sure he could enjoy himself if he did go back _to bed_. "Nein, I'm here."

"Alright. Well, Kitty and I have started going through the data we got from... that place. We managed to get a lot off their computers, though it seems to have gotten kind of strange toward the end."

"That was us, sorry."

"I figured. Anyway, before the system got overwhelmed by... whatever you guys did on your way out, we did get a lot of files. Most of it looks like about what you'd expect from what we know, but there are a few weird things that keep coming up. We'll all go over them, of course, but unlike most of the people who were there, you're used to making reports and it might be best to get impressions before they fade."

"Sure. Like what?"

"Well, first off, there's this symbol. It shows up erratically, almost like a logo, but not on all the documents." She headed down the hallway and he fell into step as best he could. He was still sluggish and sleepy in spite of the nap, and while he was usually more than quick enough to make up for it, Jean had longer legs than he did. "It looks almost like a military insignia, and maybe it is. We haven't checked against everything in the book yet. It's a bird with the letters FOH on it."

"Ja, we did see that. Right before someone tried to blow up a room full of mutants," he said softly. Giddy thrills and irritation to follow had buried the trauma of the last few days, but not deep. Jean walked beside him in silence for a few moments, and he only made himself talk again when he realized he must be worrying her. "From what we heard inside, there were a couple of factions at work there. I think the letter-bird guys were just one of them?"

"That would make sense, I guess." She smiled gently at him. "You really can go and lie down."

"Nein, I'd rather do something useful. Let's go figure out what the... Finnish Oboe Honorarium is up to."

"Honorarium?"

"Is that not a real word?"

"It's okay. You're German."

"You remembered!"

* * *

Todd decided about a minute after Kurt ported away that he didn't feel like being alone with his thoughts. Having too many ideas and emotions usually meant he should sequester himself, sure, but usually they were bad ones. The current turmoil ranged from neutral confusion to deliriously happy and he didn't have a way to deal with that in his bag of tricks.

He stepped out into the hallway, blinking hard. Maybe should have turned on the light in his room first. When his vision cleared, he saw Callisto sitting in the hallway with Cybelle and Torpid, taking a stab at playing King's Corner. It was sometimes hard to play cards with someone who didn't talk, but they looked like they were progressing. He hopped over to watch.

Callisto wasn't a particularly subtle person, but it was especially easy to tell where she was looking. Unless something was at the exactly right angle, she usually had to turn her head to get a good look. She glanced up as he approached, performed an elaborate double-take, and snickered.

Not that that wasn't a reasonable enough response to him, but he was slightly offended. "What?"

"I didn't think you'd bruise so easily, somehow."

"Huh?" Taken literally, that was mean, and she wasn't deliberately mean. So he was missing something.

Cybelle looked over, confused for a moment, then snorted, too. She was generally even stonier than Callisto. Now this was really weird. "What?" he asked again, more testily.

"Did you get in a fight with a vampire?" Callisto asked around something approaching a giggle.

"Seriously. What?" He looked to Torpid for help. She shrugged.

Callisto calmed down with visible effort. "Todd. The whole side of your neck is one big hickey."

Todd slapped a hand over his neck, cringing. The worst he'd get out of any of these three was teasing, he was pretty sure. Previous patterns suggested it, anyway. But what if Evan had been out here? He'd already be screwed. Hurriedly, he zipped up the hoodie the rest of the way. "Any better?"

"Not... not really. Find a mirror. Go." She waved him away, still smirking. "Teenagers," he heard her say as he scrambled into the bathroom and locked the door.

Unlike Kurt, it hadn't occurred to Todd that he should straighten up, and for the most part, it didn't matter. Despite both a brief stint in a damp tree and all Kurt's efforts, he wasn't much more untidy than usual. But Callisto was right. He bruised easy.

He was actually a little interested in the way it looked. Where Kurt had actually bitten it was dark enough to be a regular bruise, but it was otherwise just a hint of darkened skin wherever he'd nibbled a little more enthusiastically. Todd kind of liked that. Physical evidence for those frequent moments he was sure he must have dreamed the whole thing.

He'd still have to kill the furball, though. The dark spots went all the way up to right under his ear. If he very carefully arranged the sweatshirt it was mostly covered up, but his hair was still too fluffy to lay flat and hopping was not conducive to keeping the hood bunched up just where it had to be. He did have lots of regular bruises, just because he always did as much as from his days in captivity, but this didn't look like that. It looked like... a map of where he'd been kissed. By Kurt.

And weak at the knees again.

Fuck it. Who'd really believe anyone would kiss him? Callisto was a special case. Her whole thing was looking after freaks, so she couldn't look down on them. The people he was actually worried about wouldn't think it was possible. Didn't even matter.

He still tucked the hood into place as best he could before he left the bathroom. He went to sit with the others and Callisto kept from laughing more than twice before they finished their game. Figuring his alarm and time had left him in a state to be alone again, Todd headed back to his room. He was halfway through the door when he heard little footsteps from down the hall and over his head.

Trixie apparently didn't use floors anymore. She skittered up to him and hung there, looking quite comfortable. Todd took a step back. Her hair was loose and there were weird air currents in the giant spooky basement. He didn't feel like getting stuck in the Trixie-web. "'Sup, fool?"

"Just letting you know that you're probably pretty high on the list of people that they wanna talk to about the scary mutant abducting place," she said cheerfully. "Because I'm nice."

"Why me?"

"You're so cute, I guess."

"Who's they?"

"Professor. Teachers. Senior students. X-men. Everybody."

"Nifty. Shouldn't you go to bed?"

"At nine? No." She stuck out her tongue about six inches. "Anyway, not now, probably tomorrow, and—And Christ on a cracker, you have a hickey the size of Montana."

"Shut up. An' what if I do? ...An' shut up."

"I can't hear you. I'm busy laughing _forever_."

He angrily adjusted the hood again. "Yer twelve. Why do you even know what that is?"

"I read, Todd. Honestly." This was apparently impetus enough to get off the ceiling. She scooted a bit to the left, swung her palms onto the wall, and flipped herself down. It was actually pretty impressive and if he weren't really annoyed with her he'd have told her so. The X-dweeb gig suited the kid. "I'm very proud of you, you big dork. Please never give me any squishy details."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, you win an' are the smartest." He sighed. He was glad she was having fun, but this actually was a problem. "Could you, like, not say anythin' ever about it?"

"But I gotta let Kitty know she won the pot! I knew I should have put in for tonight, but no, I had faith in you. Figured you'd have tied it up a week ago."

"Wha—No, you didn't."

"Nah, can you imagine Kitty winning at gambling? Rogue's got tonight's ticket."

"Trix!"

"Relax, Todd. I'm kidding. Imagine putting odds together on a betting pool like that! Human emotions are way too dumb. I'll stick to the pinewood derby racket I've been working on."

"Okay, scam all the boy scouts you want. Just do not bring this up, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna blow your cover. My big brother is totally capable of getting himself in trouble without my help." Her teasing grin wavered and became something softer. "It's good though, right? You're happy and stuff."

He reached out and ruffled her hair, fully aware he'd need help getting the hand back. "And stuff."

"Gross."


	28. Chapter 28

Kurt tried, but he couldn't really focus well enough to be a lot of help to Jean and Kitty's preliminary investigation. Mostly he was just tired and drained and distracted, but when he tried to weigh in on the bomb or when Kitty asked innocently if his tail was okay, he found himself inclined to just be quiet for a while. It wasn't long before the girls strong-armed him into going back to bed, and he didn't fight them too much. He expected to spend all night staring at the ceiling, but he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

He didn't sleep well, though. Without Todd next to him, the nightmares and twitching won out, and when his eyes opened again, he didn't feel the least bit rested. Possibly because it was obnoxiously early. His roommate was still passed out and he used all his stealth training to quickly grab his clothes and head for the bathroom, where he used an unconscionable amount of hot water and broke into the weird organic soap and shampoo that Ororo liked to stock the bathroom with. He'd teased Todd for his strenuous objections to their prison's approach to disinfecting everything, but it was actually really nice to smell like faintly mossy clay instead of rubbing alcohol. By the time he left the bathroom, the mansion was waking up around him, and he quietly took advantage of the mounting confusion to port downstairs.

Kurt was in a definite hurry when he decided to port, but as he raised his hand to knock on Todd's door, he uncovered a sudden case of nerves. Everything was still new, and Todd had proven he was a bit changeable on this as with all subjects. Maybe barging in first thing in the morning and expecting snuggles wasn't the best call.

Then Callisto stepped out of one room, spotted him, and snickered. Blushing under his fur (quite invisible, but it did happen), Kurt quickly went ahead and knocked. The response was a sleepy mutter.

He wasn't sure if that counted. "...Todd?"

"Get in here." Or that was what Kurt thought he heard. The words weren't very well articulated to begin with and he was willing to bet they'd been spoken straight into a pillow. He went ahead and teleported in anyway. The heat from two ports was enough to dry off most of his fur.

"Is it, like, actually a normal time t'be awake an' I jus' suck, or are you messin' with me?" Todd asked sullenly. His head was actually _under_ the pillow and the blanket looked like it had been deliberately tied around him.

"It's almost seven. That's pretty normal. But you go ahead and go back to sleep. Don't mind me." Kurt paused only to tug enough blanket free to be mostly covered and cuddled up with a small sigh.

"An' once again, I should prolly just get a cat," Todd said tartly, but he wasn't really complaining. It was incredibly surreal to think of himself as reassuring and cozy, but Kurt clearly saw it. Todd could feel tension ease out of him in a matter of seconds.

Being trusted was a funny thing. It made him wish he was worth it. Maybe even try or something. But he was still a little grumpy over being woken up. "Y'could of just popped in, y'know. I wouldn't of cared."

"Shh, I'm sleeping."

"Hairball."

"Slimy."

That seemed to settle it. Todd wrapped an arm around him and closed his eyes, too. He didn't expect to actually fall asleep, but it was kind of comfy, having Fuzzy nestled in with him. He drifted off despite himself and only woke up when Kurt climbed out of the bed a few hours later.

Todd sat up, pushing the hair out of his face and blinking blearily. "'Sup, fool?"

"Breakfast, then I need to talk to my parents, then... I dunno?" He smiled just a little wickedly over his shoulder through a cloud of hilariously messy hair. Getting it soaked, porting a few times, and then napping with his head tucked under Todd's chin had tossed it everywhere. "C'mon, let's go see what's left to eat."

"Whoa, hey now!" Todd was all for food and he was even willing to brave the upper floors, but he wanted a game plan. "We go up together? You nuts?"

"Come on, even the hard-liners around here know you und me are friends," Kurt said with an innocent smile. "Plus everyone who got rescued with us thinks we're Batman and Robin anyway."

"Dibs on Batman."

"Not even a chance."

Todd was tempted to press the point, but he let it go. "But, like, the more we're together, the more people'll have a chance t'figure stuff out."

"You don't think it'd be weird if we started ignoring each other for no reason?" Kurt frowned, mulling over the various options.

"Less weird..." Todd had considered trying to hide the hickey from Kurt, too. It was dim in his room and the idea had seemed halfway plausible. But with a sigh, he shoved his hair back. "Ahem."

Kurt looked at him blankly for a moment, then his eyes went wide. "Oh. Oops..."

"Yeah, oops," Todd said sullenly. "So how's about not poofin' up to breakfast with someone whose teeth match the... Whazzat look for?" Kurt's expressions could be kind of hard to read when he wasn't broadcasting on purpose, but he didn't exactly look mortified and calculating, as expected. Todd realized he was about to be pounced on too late to do anything about it.

He probably wouldn't have. Todd was still not quite all the way awake and he'd only just started fabricating all his self-defeating, depressing theories for the day, but he'd already begun to wonder if the night before hadn't been some kind of crazy fluke. Kurt kissing him again was as reassuring as it was awesome.

His head missed the pillow, because Crawler's grace didn't quite overpower the Toad's aura of clumsiness, but he didn't slip off the bed. Kurt was on his hands and knees and Todd couldn't figure out whether he was supposed to hold on tight or not, and wound up just kind of letting it happen. Kurt kissed him hard, but not for long, moving abruptly to little nibbles that led straight to the epicenter of the damage.

Todd inhaled sharply. "What, so... gonna make it worse now?" Did he mind?

"Nein." The smile in Kurt's voice was obnoxiously obvious. "Not unless you want me to." Before Todd could say anything, he ran the tip of his tongue up from the curve of Todd's neck to under his ear. The ensuing squeak and squirm finally did knock them to the floor.

Kurt found himself looking across at Todd instead of down. "Was that a good thing?" He wanted to still be teasing, but he worried.

"Yeah. Yeah it was. Jerk." Todd shifted to relieve the shoulder he'd landed on. "You, uh, you _can_ do that if you want. By the way. Just... lower. That still works, don't it?"

"What, the... Oh, ja, I think so." To test it, Kurt scooted closer and pulled Todd's collar aside a little. The other boy jumped and he paused. He thought he was beginning to get a sense of what was Todd upset and what was just Todd having screwy reactions.

After a second, Todd let out a breath and nodded stiffly. "Okay, yeah, go for it."

Kurt accepted the invitation with only a little hesitation. The mark he left was right under Todd's too-prominent collarbone, fainter than the smudgy bites all over his neck. "Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

That was definitely a _good_ little shiver in Todd's voice. Kurt grinned to himself and kissed the spot gently. "Mine." He spoke in a low growl and then sat up. He'd meant it as an aimless sort of joke, but when he half sat up, he was afraid he might have taken another misstep. Todd was blushing, but he looked a little stunned. "You alright?"

The wickedest Toad-smirk he'd seen in a long time was suddenly turned on him. "Say it again."

Kurt laughed and bent down again to kiss him on the forehead. "Mine." On the cheek. "Mine." Temple. "Mine." He fell into a cycle of fierce, short kisses and possessive declarations until Todd playfully pushed him off right before he broke the rule about love bites only _under_ the collar.

"Sorry."

"Don't really mind, man, but I heal kinda slow. These're already gonna take forever." Todd pushed himself up on his elbows. "So... we're still on the floor."

"I did notice that." Kurt sat up entirely and rolled his shoulders a bit. "We need to get up and do stuff anyway."

"Why?" Todd knew he couldn't pout very effectively, but he tried anyway.

"Because I'm hungry, und that makes me crabby."

"So you go get food an' bring it down."

"It's not a permanent solution. I do need to talk to my parents."

"I didn't say permanent nothin'. Go get us breakfast."

"Nein. We can come back down when I've done at least some of the stuff I need to do. I turn into a hermit easy." He hopped to his feet. "Come on. There's a whole world of toast and coffee."

"Ain't everybody at school or whatever now?" Todd was a little hopeful.

"Not the ones who showed up yesterday." Kurt held out both hands and smiled.

"Nah, you go ahead." Todd met the disappointed puppy eyes evenly. "Ain't gonna port up is all. I'll walk. See y'soon, fool."

"If you say so..." Kurt sighed a little and vanished.

Todd was sincere in his attempt to keep anyone from guessing, but he also just needed a minute. He couldn't go from furiously making out on the floor to awkwardly standing in a corner and hoping Wolverine wouldn't decide he was in the way. He just needed a little recovery time.

He got up and checked the mirror for new damage. There was just the one bite they'd done on purpose, a little lighter and where his shirt would cover it, anyway. And he suspected that Kurt wouldn't mind giving him a new one whenever he asked, since "chew toy" was apparently one of his jobs.

_Mine_, Kurt said, and he'd meant it. Todd Tolansky, wanted enough to lay claim to. Wanted for real, and by Kurt Stupidmiddlename Wagner, who was sweet and smart and gorgeous. He zipped his sweatshirt with great ceremony, sealing away his secret, and then grinned maniacally at himself in the mirror.

The room was tiny, so he had no trouble hurling himself back onto the bed with both fists in the air, bouncing hard as he landed. "Fuck yeah!"

Before he could get too far into mindless exaltation, there was a firm thump through the wall. Facade and Lucid's room. He decided that apologizing would just be worse and got up to actually go upstairs. As he hopped into the hallway, he found himself wondering if those two were a thing. Probably not. Almost certainly not. They'd known each other since they were kids. He hoped he wasn't going to start seeing couples everywhere now. That'd be dumb.

He was pretty much back to his old, surly self when he made it to the dining room. It was, as Kurt had predicted, pretty crowded, but almost entirely with fellow escapees. Score. He was cool with these guys. X-men would have been a shakier prospect, even if he was officially sanctioned to be in their basement. He spotted Kurt talking to Sean and hopped halfway there, remembered about his neck, and switched to walking, shoving the hood repeatedly into place with nervous energy.

While Todd had done a lot of planning, some quite esoteric and reasonable only in his own odd little brain, he hadn't thought to account for the fact that he and the furball hadn't been around other people together since they'd started this... thing. It took a moment's readjustment when he actually walked up, and Kurt seemed to be having the same problem. He seemed to forget he was talking for a when their eyes met and a few too many seconds passed.

"Get a room," Sean said with a snort, shattering the moment just in time. He didn't say it particularly nastily or like he was making a discovery. Todd twitched a little, but let it go. "You were saying, Blue?"

"Uh..." Kurt shook his head abruptly. "Right. Well, these FOH people are the only ones we really don't know about. The rest of them are still bad news, but at least we can figure out where they begin, ja?"

"Wait, you guys got leads on _everything_ but those guys?" Todd was impressed enough to stop thinking about pouncing on Kurt and maybe seeing how he liked being bitten.

"Pretty much. There's the sentinel guy, Trask, und apparently we know through S.H.I.E.L.D. that he's got links to this slightly shady, semi-government task force called... Some initials. I forget. The Pow-R 8 guy we already knew about, but the professor's guess is he's working with Trask, too. The crazy doctor lady apparently knows Mr. McCoy, of all things."

"You guys are good," Todd said, a little begrudgingly. Some part of him wouldn't stop keeping score, and the X-men were always ahead.

"Nein, our teachers are. We just blunder into this stuff." Kurt took a long sip of coffee.

Todd frowned. "But, uh, that makes it kinda scarier that you don't know a damn thing about the guys who actually tried to straight-up kill us all."

"We do have one hint," Sean said brightly. "Nearly everyone saw the same fekin' gobshite who met us on the way in. With the phone an' glasses, who had us collared?"

"I don't know, really," Kurt volunteered.

"Yeah, you were pretty out of it." Todd patted his shoulder. "I remember that dick."

"Might be nothin', but he was important enough back there that I don't like him."

"And he doesn't look like any of the pictures of possible associates that the professor or Mr. Logan could show people who did get a good look at him. So he might be a lead." Kurt smiled. "When you've got telepaths on staff, at least you don't need one of those police sketch artists."

"Nifty. I'mma go, y'know, actually get breakfast now. You guys try an' end mutant oppression before the toast pops up, kay?" He wasn't sure why he was sour about Sean apparently getting to be on the team right away. The Toad wasn't an X-man, and he knew he never would be, whatever else happened. That stupid jerk, on the other hand, seemed tailor made for the job. "Catch yah later, Ginger O'Smugface."

"Are the terrible something mcsomething jokes ever going to run out?" Sean asked conversationally. "I thought hating the Irish went out of fashion in the early twentieth century or so."

"Fool, I'm from Brooklyn. I hate everybody."

"It's true. He actually called me a kraut at one point." Kurt smirked into his coffee.

"Out of curiosity, what on earth are you?"

Todd smirked. "Dutch, Polish, Irish, German, Jewish by way of Russia, got a half-Cherokee great-grandsomethin', an' there might be more on my dad's side that I forgot. Jus' gonna go ahead with mutant-American on this one."

"Y'know, that's fair. Go get your toast."

"Finally." He actually felt a little better about the guy after the exchange. Mutual harassment was easy.

He'd sort of hoped he might be able to grab breakfast with his tongue, but it was too crowded. Right next to the table, wingy girl was talking to purple-haired glowy-sword girl... And maybe he should find out someone's name. He took one desultory hop in their direction, but a prickling sensation on the back of his neck made him look around.

Professor Baldy had just wheeled into the room. He wasn't particularly looking at Todd, and he hadn't actually _said_ anything like that cringe-worthy moment last night. Todd was still pretty sure he was being summoned. He had no reason to think they guy wouldn't just go ahead and plant creepy suggestions. Creeper.

But Xavier did have a real thing to talk to him about. Not the Kurt thing, which he hoped he'd never have to discuss with another human being, ever. Callisto and his sister between them had been bad enough. If that turned out to be it, he'd just go ahead and leave. But there was the matter of his mother...

He gritted his teeth and turned around to face the guy. The man made him antsy, even as he'd relaxed about most of the X-geeks. Something about having had his brain tinkered with for convenience's sake. For that reason alone, Todd wasn't much more inclined to the man than he was to Magneto nowadays, but he was taking care of Trixie, and he might be able to help Ma, so...

"Mr. Tolansky."

"Yeesh. Don't do that, man." Mystique had been a fan of pulling that one on him. Adults were never so condescending as when they pretended to be respectful. Plus it was just pretentious.

"As you prefer. Do you have a moment?"

"Sure, whatever." He considered not looking back at Kurt, but he didn't quite have the spine. He turned halfway around and caught the furball's eye before he followed the prof. Kurt tried to wave with his tail and winced, and Todd was angry again as he trailed after Xavier.

The office, he remembered. It was his memories of the interior that were scrambled, the Danger Room and the layout of the hallways and the specific defenses he'd encountered that first time. He'd been back often enough that it almost didn't matter, but he was still pissed about it on principle. He climbed into the chair facing the professor's desk distractedly and wound up with his hands and toes both clenched on the seat of the chair, ready to take off in any direction (some more gracefully than others). He might have been comfortable enough in the basement, and even in the dining room with Kurt nearby, but this was enemy soil and he couldn't have helped being defensive if he'd tried.

Might as well get to the point. "This about Ma?"

"Yes, I thought it might be wisest to discuss the matter while your sister is at school." Xavier looked at him levelly, impossible to read. Todd's shoulders were practically even with his ears. He did not want to be here. "I did manage to acquire some of the state of New York's files on the matter."

"That's gotta be fun," he said, shifting. He didn't want to be here, yes, but he was more upset to be talking about this with someone other than Trixie. His family had long ago given up the right to be personal, but he still didn't like this crap being out in the open. He might as well have been pinned and preserved for dissection.

"I was somewhat surprised at what I found," he continued, as if Todd hadn't spoken. "In your sister's case, there seems to have been a cycle of foster care, somewhat erratically timed, but reliable in execution. It's been two years since she lived with your mother, but if not for the emergence of her mutation, Patricia might well have wound up at home again."

"Wow, you actually call her Patricia? I tried Patty once an' she threw a shoe at me."

"She asked me to, as a matter of fact." He shuffled papers around in a way that Todd was pretty sure he was supposed to find impressive. "Experimenting some with identity is entirely to be expected. In any case, her relationship with your mother is clearly strained and our previous visit was upsetting to her. She pretended otherwise, of course, but..."

"Yeah, there's... I don't even get what's goin' on, there." Todd sighed, relaxing a little. "So, what, y'want me to come instead?"

"That would be the most obvious solution, and given you're only a few months shy of your eighteenth birthday, I'd have limited means to stop you." He stopped messing with the papers and folded his hands. Todd was pretty sure that upped the seriousness. "However, I have some concerns about you seeing her, as well."

"Nah, I'm cool. Wouldn't wanna leave her with a creepy stranger." Maybe he was trying to get a rise. The guy would be easier to deal with if he didn't talk like a monologuing Bond villain all the time.

"Because according to what records I could acquire, you were either an exceedingly accident-prone child, or-"

"Yeah, that's right, I was." He glowered.

"I hate to press the point, but you do remember that I'm telepathic?"

"Yup. Enjoy that. Lemme know when yer gonna go see Ma an' I'll jump in then, okay?" He jumped off the chair and hurried out the door. He was ready to ignore any follow-up questions, but Wheels was silent.

It wasn't fair. He'd just finished his time in the mutant mad-science zoo. He didn't want to have to handle this, too. Was a time he wouldn't have tried, just curled up somewhere to be quiet for a few hours and force the feelings back where they belonged, but he had a feeling Kurt wouldn't like that.


	29. Chapter 29

"I'm in," Pietro said with the same quiet monotone he managed for every declaration. Man had a hell of a poker face. It just wasn't fair.

"I fold." Lance folded most of the time when Pietro was around. Playing it safe. They'd just beat the tar out of each other later if need be.

"I'm in," Todd said firmly, repressing a smirk. It wasn't like they were playing for real, but for once it felt like he might actually win something, and even if that just meant pulling the pile of pennies and buttons on the table toward him for the next ten minutes, it'd be fun.

Then Freddy walked up behind him. "Whoa, man," he said appreciatively.

"Nevermind, fold," Pietro snapped.

"Dammit, Freddy, when am I gonna get a straight flush again?" he whined, pulling the meager winnings to his side.

"Happens to me all the time," Pietro said smugly. "Happens when you can deal six or eight times a second."

"Which only makes sense if you play cards by yourself," Lance pointed out acidly.

"Shut up."

They'd need to spar a bit before anyone was up to deal again. Todd turned around in his chair. "Girls still upstairs?" he asked Freddy.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go for dinner. You want anything?"

"Nah. See yah." He waved over his shoulder as he heard the front door close and leaned the chair back on two legs, bracing his feet on the table. He'd only come over because Trixie wanted to hang with Lorna, but he was beginning to think he should make a regular thing of it. He wasn't exactly Brotherhood anymore, but he found he'd missed the sounds of Lance and Pietro arguing, the unwashed socks and mildew smell of the house, the jittery lights giving a constant suggestion of a horror movie about to start.

Just plain relaxing. And it helped that Trixie had proven trustworthy, there were no telepaths to worry about, and Kurt wasn't around to draw his attention. Secrets were safe.

Leaned back like this, he could hear the chatter from upstairs. Most of it was that buzzy, high pitched sound that came only from Trixie, but Lorna and Wanda were holding their own, conversationally. Todd still wasn't clear on what girls did when they hung out, especially given such an odd selection of girls, but he imagined it must involve makeup and pillow fights. He tended to believe what the TV told him.

In the process of rocking back and forth on the chair, he managed to find the sweet spot where all of gravity was centered and he could wobble indefinitely on just the two legs. He lifted his heels from the kitchen table and grinned. "Hey, check me out. Quick, 'cus I'm totally gonna fall on my-"

Before they'd even bothered with a disdainful glance, a wave of sound and pressure shot through the room, heat and debris flying after as the explosion rocked the house. Todd fell over at the same time the blast pushed him forward, and he wound up on the floor under the table, protected from the worst of it, though the dust was so thick he could barely see or breathe.

He tried to kick the table off him, but even with his mutation-powered legs, all he could do was shove as hard as he could until he'd made enough of an opening to struggle through.

Half the kitchen was gone, and with it a lot of the back of the house. Trixie was his first thought, but more immediately, Lance was under a lot worse than a table with a lot of ceiling on it. No sign of Pietro. Todd hoped he'd split and not been buried.

Only bruised himself, he jumped most of the room to get to Lance and kicked the half a cabinet that had landed on him so it flew into an intact wall and broke into splinters. At least that seemed to have protected his head, but the fridge was on his legs.

Todd only realized he couldn't hear anything but roaring when Lance clearly tried to tell him... Eh, something. If it wasn't "get the major appliance off me," Todd didn't see how it was a major issue. He tried putting his shoulder into it, but while he couldn't hear it, it was pretty easy to tell Lance objected to that, and it wasn't really helping. It wasn't his most efficient way to apply force.

Only seconds had passed, but no one was going to take just one shot with a small bomb and leave it at that. He didn't have time for this. Todd dropped onto the floor, braced himself precariously with both arms, and kicked as hard as he could. The fridge only bounced up a few inches, but it was enough that he could twist and drag Lance out from under before it fell back.

One of his legs looked really bad. Lots of blood and the foot was pointing a funny direction. But at least he wasn't totally stuck now. Todd finally had a chance to look around. The stairs were largely collapsed, but as he watched, bits of metal from all over the room flew toward the stairwell, everything from forks to wall studs. He had to duck to not be stabbed. The undifferentiated mass formed into three steep, crooked steps and Lorna came down, hurrying with a white-faced Wanda leaning on her shoulder. Each floating step as they passed spun forward to be the next step down, and they got to the kitchen floor okay.

Trixie came barreling along the less crumbled wall of the stairwell, scrambling on all fours. While the other two girls were physically unhurt, there were cuts all along one side of her face and the corresponding arm, and probably burns, too. At least her glasses were in one piece or she'd be scurrying into things. He'd take the time to be really angry later, once everyone was out and alive.

Whatever the explosion had done to his ears was finally easing up, and he could hear muffled sounds, at least. "Hey, Lorna, couldja wrap some of that around Lance's leg so it don't get worse while we get him outta here?"

"What?"

He repeated it, yelling this time. She nodded and a makeshift cast of scrap metal twisted around the injury. While she managed that, Wanda looked up, shaking her head. "Pietro?"

Before Todd could try to answer, another explosion went off, but while it rattled the house and broke the last few things that weren't already shattered, it wasn't right up against the building like the last one. Then came sounds that easily penetrated the damage from the blasts, machine gun fire.

Every one of them had the training or at least the composure to hit the floor, and as she landed, Polaris threw her hands into the air, forming an invisible dome around them that the bullets bounced off, ricocheting through the room and knocking around plenty of crap that the little mistress of magnetism had no control over. Better to have bits of plaster and shards of broken dishes rain down on them than hot lead, but it was still painful.

Todd couldn't get to Trixie and he didn't quite dare leave Lance anyway. The guy was white as a sheet and looked seriously out of it. He still felt like a heel for not reaching his injured little sister.

"Anyone hear sirens?" Lance tried to sit up and fell back.

"I do. Maybe. Could just be my ears." At least Trixie was talking okay. She couldn't be too badly off.

"Where's Pietro?" Wanda wasn't just pale, Todd realized. She looked disoriented and sick.

"Their guns are all smashed," Polaris announced. "But they're already running. Or the ones carrying guns are. There might be more guys with... Ceramic knives?" She looked about an inch from total panic.

Todd was pretty sure he heard sirens now, too. He reminded himself that in this case the police could only be a good thing. It went against years of experience. "So we should get outta here before somethin' else goes up? Y'know, while they don't got snipers."

"Unless, y'know, I missed one." Lorna was shaking.

"Through the backyards, maybe?" Trixie started to stand. Todd grabbed her ankle with his tongue and yanked. It worked as well as it had on Kurt. "Sorry, that was dumb."

"I don't know if it'd help. Anyone from that side can see us well enough to aim at the floor." Lance waved a hand weakly toward the quarter or so of the house that seemed to just be gone.

"The fuzz is here," Todd said, nodding toward the front, where the screaming of emergency vehicles was finally growing clear. His head still felt fuzzy. "They take another shot now, they're totally bugfuck nuts."

"Oh, that'd be news," Lorna said with a small sob.

"At least get into the front of the house. Walls will help." Lance shook his head and scrunched his eyes up. Todd wasn't sure why, since he was fighting crazy pain and blood loss, not a headache, but whatever helped.

"Unless they collapse said walls on us," Trixie said sharply.

"Field leader. Toad, help me up."

Todd obeyed. Kind of. He didn't know which of them was right, but at least he could make sure he was with his sister this time. And he sure as hell wasn't going to help Lance _stand_ when he had a broken leg at the very least.

He crouched down so Lance could grab on around his neck. This wasn't going to be easy. He could carry Wanda no problem, but Lance probably had fifty pounds on her. And if he needed to hurry, it was going to be a bumpy ride. Well, he didn't really have a choice. Wanda wasn't up to it and there was no one else technically over five feet tall (though Lorna was almost as tall as he was with her shoes on). He hoisted his fearless leader into a fireman's carry. Lance, to his credit, only groaned a little and didn't argue that he could walk. In return, Todd didn't let himself drop into a crouch, accepting the weird back strain that was going to come of carrying a heavy guy while standing up like a person with a regular spine.

It was only a few feet to the kitchen door, and then they were in the wreckage of the foyer. The big staircase had totally given out and all the windows were toast. The mess underfoot was godawful. Trixie wasn't wearing shoes and crept along on the walls, moving gingerly in case they fell in. Todd wanted to tell her to get off, but the glass was cutting through the thin soles of his sneakers. There was no way she could walk on the floor.

Absurdly, someone knocked at the door. It was a hard knock, at least, accompanied by a barked, "Police!" It was still ridiculous, but Todd didn't blame the police force of Bayville for not really knowing what to do about a situation this weird.

Before Lance could do his leader thing, Lorna piped up. "Get _in_ here already! There are people _hurt_!"

"Who says they're actually the police!" Trixie snapped, but the door was already opening. And while Todd respected a healthy paranoia, it seemed unlikely that people who were bombing and shooting would knock. There were, in fact, uniformed cops on the other side. One woman went ahead and stepped into the room, quite fearlessly considering how close it looked to falling apart entirely.

"I need EMTs in here," she snapped into her walkie-talkie. "Anyone hurt besides him?" She pointed at Lance, who was still dangling awkwardly off Todd's aching shoulders.

"Wanda hit her head and she's being kinda loopy. I think the rest of us are just banged up." Trixie surveyed Lorna and Todd for a moment, just to be sure.

"That's two kids down. And hurry. This building isn't secured."

"I'll just, uh, get him outside?" Todd volunteered. Something about this particular cop lady struck him as familiar.

"Fine. Do it. All of you, out!"

Todd checked that the girls were following and moved as fast as he dared out the front door. It looked like every emergency vehicle in Bayville was here, with more doing their best to arrive. Their best wasn't very good, not simply because of crowding, but because there was a big, jagged crater in the middle of the street, reeking of boiling asphalt and smoking horridly. At least they knew where the second explosion had gone off.

And how it wound up there and not on their front porch. It was hazy and they were all still dazed, but Todd could make out that whoever was being loaded into the ambulance in front of the house was skinny and had weird white hair. And wasn't protesting at all. Not good. Freddy was off to the side, his stance that of a kindergartener being interrogated about missing fingerpaint. That the cops might be a little bit on his side for once was apparently beyond him.

A couple of paramedics came to meet him and he gladly handed Lance over. Lorna pulled the makeshift cast off him once he was on a gurney, and one of the EMTs moved away a little, looking at all of them like they were going to start eating kittens. Lance took the opportunity to raise one fist in a wobbly salute. "Not a bad job, Toad."

"Yer too kind, fool." He leaned in a little. "That was totally her, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." The paramedic either recovered himself or was shamed into doing his job by his partner's glare, and Todd had to move back. He walked back to the girls. Lorna and Trixie were helping Wanda sit down.

"Her who?" Trixie demanded.

"Mystique." He shrugged a little too casually, especially under the circumstances.

"How can you tell?" Wanda asked blearily.

"She's kinda got tells once y'know her a long time, Sugarplum," he explained, hoping that glowering at him might make her feel better. It didn't work. Wanda's eyes remained unfocused and her expression mildly confused. "Kinda always sounds like herself when she yells, for one thing."

"Oh. That's good. Where's Pietro?"

Before Todd could decide what to tell her, if anything, Trixie saved him."You, um, never make Mystique sound too nice," she said uncertainly.

"She sure as hell ain't, that's why." And he bore her a little more ill-will now, knowing what had happened to Kurt. "But I guess she likes us, a little, which is nice. An' watches close enough that it took her, like, two minutes to get here, which is creepy."

"Yeah, that's kinda weird." Trixie frowned. "So, um, Wanda should go to the hospital, but for us three-"

"Kid, I know all the mirrors are smashed, but you don't look so great." Up close, he could see that none of her cuts and bumps were threatening by themselves, but he'd seen what a whole bunch of little wounds could do to a person, especially a skinny, little, lightly built person. And besides, she wasn't supposed to be hurt. If she was, it was his job to overreact.

"Oh, look who's talking. You look like death warmed over. But, like, death's microwave is broken."

"That's just leftover from getting' kidnapped."

"Of course! You got blown up three days after you got back from being kidnapped! It'd be _silly_ to get you in to see a _doctor_. What do we even _have_ those for?"

"Could you both shut up?" Lorna snapped, wincing. She clenched her fists and rose into the air about ten feet, getting attention much more efficiently than yelling could have. "Someone please come and check out my obviously concussed sister, please!" She dropped back to the ground with a thud.

"That's neat," Trixie said chirpily.

"Yeah, if she weren't askin' any leftover freaks to shoot her," Todd said, rubbing his temples. He didn't ever want to have to be the responsible one again.

"Relax. Stopping bullets is no problem."

"Notice how y'didn't catch whatever blew us up?"

"Must have been plastic explosives or something."

"So what if there're plastic bullets?"

"There are no plastic bullets."

"Yes there are," Trixie interrupted. "They're just supposed to be nonlethal. But. Here comes a paramedic, and let's let Wanda have some peace. Hers is not a brain we want scrambled."

Trixie and Todd both retreated, letting Lorna and her sister have some room. He still felt a bit cold over not telling them he'd spotted Pietro being loaded into an ambulance, but... Maybe Lorna had seen. Either way, he wasn't going back to interrupt.

Freddy was a pretty major feature even in this landscape, so Todd made for him. "Hey, what happened?" he asked shortly, once they were close. "Out here, I mean."

"I heard the first one go off and started to come back, then Quicksilver ran up dragging a guy and told me to hit him until he told us if there were any more," Freddy said with a slow shrug. "Only had to do it once. Then Tro found the bomb, I guess. It was just a box with wires on it, and he ran a little and dropped it and tried to run back. But I guess he's not faster than explosions."

"Didja see how bad he was hurt?"

"Kinda burned, and he hit the pavement pretty hard. He's, y'know, breakable." Freddy looked down the street. The ambulance was long gone, but Todd joined him in looking after it anyway.

"Jerkface ended up savin' us." Todd sighed. If the second bomb had gone off outside, everyone still inside the boarding house could have been done for. "And me and Lance are pretty sure Mystique was here. Nobody's seen Magneto, though, an'... Trix, what're you doin'?"

"Getting those of us who don't have to go to the hospital a way out of this madhouse, and hopefully getting a little help for the ones who do." She held up the little phone she was dialing, making sure he saw the look that clearly said he was an idiot. "Yeah, hi. ...Of course it is. ...Brotherhood boarding house. ...How do you think? ...Okay, two badly hurt, one more going to the hospital just in case, the rest of us mostly in one piece. ...Four. Yeah. ...Kay, bye." She pushed more buttons and shoved the thing back in her pocket. "Wolverine's already on his way, and Jean's gone with the professor to get started... Y'know, doing the stuff he does."

Lorna walked up briskly as Trixie finished her call. "Do we really want to send those three to the hospital alone?" she asked worriedly. So at least _she_ knew where her brother was. "Hospitals don't really have a lot of security."

"I'm pretty sure they can get it when people get sent there after crazy violent attacks, though," Trixie said soothingly. "Besides, none of us is really in any shape to do anything for them."

"Maybe you guys aren't, but I'm totally fine. And Freddy, you hurt?"

"Nah. I'm the Blob, remember?"

"Right. So why don't you and your brother head back, and we'll-"

Before she could get done dictating, there was a screech and a roar as the X-Van took the corner, almost coming up on two wheels. "Oh, Kitty's driving," Trixie said with a nod and a pasted-on smile. Todd thought she was kidding until the van should have smashed into the hood of a squad car and instead cruised comfortably through to pull up in front of it.

The door flew open and Wolverine leaped out. Todd had gotten pretty used to seeing the guy and, while he was obviously really tough, he hadn't been terrified of the man for a while. At the moment, he looked so angry it was bestial, and Todd leaned away a bit despite himself. Claws were popped already, and a cop and an ambulance driver who happened to be in his line of sight recoiled like mice in front of a cat.

"Little late, Mr. Logan," Trixie said fearlessly. "They all split."

"Nah, that guy Pietro had me hit is still out. He's over there." Freddy pointed to a bush. Under close examination, there were shoes poking out from the bottom. "Said to leave him there so we could deal with him."

"Um, no, I think we want the police to do th-" Lorna's response was cut short when Wolverine dived toward the bush with a growl. "Oh, um, huh."

"Yeah, I don't think we wanna get in the way of that," came Kitty's voice, quickly followed sticking her head through the windshield. "The professor said I should just try and get all you guys someplace safe. Wanna get in?"

"I'm getting in. Come on." Trixie grabbed onto Lorna's arm. The taller girl tried to pull back, but Trixie was deliberately stuck on. Lorna was probably strong enough to drag Trixie along, but she gave up after a brief stare-down and allowed herself to be hauled in.

"I'm not sure I'm gonna fit," Freddy observed, cocking his head at the van. He did generally need the top of the car down on Brotherhood excursions.

Kitty looked a little hesitant, but she managed a smile as she stepped out of the van, using the door this time. "Here, uh, I can help you in and out. It's only a quick drive, and we should probably get out of here."

Freddy took up the whole back seat once phased through the door, with the girls in the middle. Todd had no choice but to take shotgun. "So where's everyone else?"

"Um, Jean went with the Professor to City Hall. Storm is up there somewhere." She pointed as she put the car into reverse, nearly smacked into the squad car she'd driven through once already, and made the whole big vehicle jerk as she corrected herself. "I guess we didn't want a whole bunch of people going out before we really knew what was going on."

"How'd he even know? Trix made it sound like you guys were already on the move."

"We're not that far away. We did hear the first explosion. And I guess he checked in on people's minds. So yeah, we're, like, monitoring the situation. ...Kurt's on the home team." She added the observation almost innocently enough to pass muster. Todd didn't have it in him to care, though. He was too tired to think, but whenever he wasn't distracted enough he could swear he heard explosions again.

He was more rattled than he had been coming out of the mutant zoo. That was just a shitty thing that happened to him. The boarding house going? That shook the world to the core.


	30. Chapter 30

Todd didn't mind doctors when they were blue and giant and used to teach him chemistry, he'd discovered. And as he seemed to have come out of the attack in pretty good shape, he didn't even have to listen to much of a lecture. Mr. McCoy was much more worried about Trixie, the only one of them who'd taken worse than a few knocks, and both the nerds had gotten distracted by the fact that the burned skin had lost its sticking capacity. He watched his sister poke herself and wince a few times and decided he was done with that. At least it was keeping her from thinking too hard.

He let himself upstairs. He did kind of live here now, after all, and the whole place was suffused with a weird, tense calm that probably precluded anyone starting a fight with him for the crime of being Toad. He spotted Lorna, entirely unharmed, sitting with Jean and reading magazines. Freddy was parked in front of a TV and given a wide berth by all. They'd already talked to the teachers while he and Trix got their checkups.

No one had come for him. Trixie was probably going to give a briefing like a good little X-geek. He suspected he was being tested. He wanted to fail, to prove that he wasn't joining the goody-good team despite all evidence to the contrary. He didn't want to play nice. He wanted to hit something, though he was still feeling weak and shaky and he'd probably just hurt himself even if he weren't.

But whatever had happened clearly required everyone's help to fix. That little scrap of pride he had didn't mean shit next to his friends in the hospital. He turned and hopped toward Baldy's office.

While the rest of the building was strangely quiet, it was busy here. There were several voices coming from the room and Logan was pacing in the hallway, apparently done being totally berserk but still pretty scary. Todd stopped and they regarded each other in silence until the man jerked his head toward the door and Todd carried on.

Of all the grown-ups in the world, the one who seemed to actually not mind him was the scary claw dude. And the lady with one eye. Of course. He stood up and let himself in.

Xavier was at the desk, with Shades yelling, Storm attempting to calm him down, Kitty and Amara sitting on the floor with laptops out, and, immediately drawing his eye, Kurt on the phone.

Scott saw him and was obviously about to say something, but the Prof held up a hand before he'd done more than open his mouth. "Hank cleared you to be up and about?"

"Nah, but he prolly would of if he weren't busy with Trixie an', like, science. I'm fine."

"Doubtful. But if you're on your feet you might as well stay that way." He turned as Kurt lowered the phone. "Anything new?"

"Nein, no updates. Should I try the S.H.I.E.L.D. number again?"

"You might as well. I suspect they don't know any more than we do, but just in case." He nodded and turned back to Todd. "If you don't mind submitting to a mind scan, I've already gathered impressions from Mr. Dukes and Miss Dane."

"Who—Oh, izzat Lorna's last name?" The pompous insistence on surnames continued to bug him. "Yeah, whatever. If it helps. You guys heard anything from the hospital?"

"Wanda and Lance are both staying overnight for observation," Storm explained. "But should both make a full recovery. Pietro is in serious condition, but I'm hopeful that there's been some degree of inflated concern due to physiology." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Piotr is there now, and I'll be returning in an hour or so, as soon as I've done what I can here."

"Good." There should be an adult in charge. Even for the oldest, toughest among them. Lance and Pietro and Wanda weren't nearly as indestructible as everyone thought, apparently. And the ones who were supposed to be doing it were just gone. Magneto was totally back in hiding, Mystique might have been there for five minutes... "So. Brain check?"

He didn't like the idea of the man poking around in his head, but he knew he was bad at communicating, and he didn't think he _could_ think about anything other than tonight right now. Nothing too embarrassing was going to surface. He sat still with his eyes on the floor while Professor X checked out his memories.

"Essentially what I have from the others, if from a different angle. Quick thinking with the refrigerator."

Todd was unused to compliments, period. Compliments that suggested he was good at thinking were just confusing. "Eh, his leg's still all smashed up."

Baldy didn't argue. "I'm not entirely clear on why you thought Mystique was involved?"

"Eh, I'm not sure or nothin'," Todd said evenly, glancing at Kurt. He did glance over, but he must be pretty used to the fact that the crazy lady existed. "Jus' might have been. Lance figured, too."

"Given the changes in her mutation, your intuition is likely the best way of identifying her. It's been months since there were any indications of her whereabouts, so it's an interesting theory."

"Like I said. Might not be a thing." He'd been pretty sure at the time, but he didn't want to trigger a Mystique hunt, or get her in trouble, or get himself in trouble, or really commit to anything. Tired of being grilled, he changed the subject. "How'd you guys get on it so fast?" He couldn't believe they'd had a Brotherhood Disaster Response Plan. No one cared about them that much.

To his credit, Scott only sounded a little smug. "_We_ were already on high alert. There was another attack tonight."

Shit. "What? Who?"

"The only other publicly known mutant in the area without the defenses of the school or even the safety of numbers." Xavier sighed. "I've been encouraging Warren for months to join us on a permanent basis, but he prefers to spend most of his time in the city, and has a weakness for heroics."

"They went after the Angel." Todd surprised himself by how indignant he was. He was scared and pissed on behalf of the poor guy himself, but the symbolism wasn't lost on him, either. It wasn't just the trash mutants that these guys were after. They wanted to make it public and brutal, and if they had to take down the guy with wings and golden hair who rescued kids and old ladies and gave New York just a little bit less despair on mornings when he headlined, they'd do it. Just so everyone knew there weren't any safe mutants. He got how bullies worked.

"That's what I was calling about. The guy with the gun hit a wing, und he hit the ground pretty hard," Kurt explained, as he set the phone in the holster. "No luck again with Fury."

"But the good news is they got that guy, since he just took the shot on a street," Kitty explained. "And, um, Mr. Logan did take the guy that Blob caught to the police. Eventually." She swallowed hard.

"So, uh, any word on that?" Todd could have kicked himself for sounding shy. He had more right to know about this than most.

"They've been quite vocal, as a matter of fact. In both cases. But both men also had tattoos that looked extremely familiar." X passed him a Polaroid. It was a bit dark, but he could still make out the blue and red bird and the FOH clumsily dyed into a man's shoulder.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Todd slumped back in the chair, overwhelmed for just a moment. Of course. Just the straight up murderous ones. Not the ones who wanted to study them or control them or cure them, or even the ones who were into giant robots and crazy mutant poison. Nope, just the ones with bombs and guns who wanted everyone from the actual damn Angel to his little sister dead.

"Even if there's no injury that requires treatment, you'd probably benefit from some rest," Xavier said after a moment. Todd took the hint, nodded, and left the room. He didn't bother sizing up Logan this time, and he just slowly shuffled his way down to his basement room.

Kurt was leaning against the door. He looked a little nervous, and for a second, Todd kind of wished he'd leave. He stopped for a second, their eyes locked, and he hurried forward to press his forehead to Kurt's shoulder, wrapping his fingers in the other boy's dorky sweater. Kurt hugged him and nuzzled into his hair, and they were still for a long moment.

"Es tut mir Leid, Todd," Kurt said after a moment. "I should have come to get you."

"Well, y'could of given me a ride downstairs if you were just gonna pop down, man."

"You know what I mean." Kurt kissed his forehead. "It's just... Nein, no excuses. The professor would have let me come if I'd asked."

"You were doin' X-dweeb stuff, right?" Todd wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck. "I know what a dork you are. S'why I like yah so much. So... Didn't wanna stop... what?" He was a little curious as to what was so important.

"The professor wanted teams ready to go. These people probably have the info from the facility where we were, und a few people have gone home the last few days. Und since Scott was heading up security here, I needed to be on hand to pilot."

"Stuff like that, yeah."

"The professor told me you were okay." Kurt didn't want to own up to being too scared of what he might find to go and see. Sure, he'd gotten over it, but that had taken a minute, and by then Kitty and Logan were in the van, speeding away. "Bed?"

Todd nodded and Kurt ported them straight into the room. Todd pulled away and hit the light switch with his tongue. "Not everybody's got nocturno-vision, fool."

"Sorry, I forget." The lights downstairs were florescent and they made poor Todd look even more tired. Kurt pushed the hair out of his face and kissed his cheek. "Just going to sleep?"

"Think I'm gonna sleep?"

"I've seen you do it under weirder circumstances." He leaned back a little. "My mom would say a hot bath and a cup of tea. Possibly with vodka in it." It said a lot about Kurt's current state of mind that he didn't even run with the idea mentally and giggle nervously at the idea of booze and a hot bath.

"An' yer mom's awesome, don't get me wrong. But I'mma just... like, lie here. Be awesome if you hung out until a plane needs flyin' or Wheels up there yells at us again." Todd stretched out on the bed, kicking his shoes off but otherwise not bothering with so much as a blanket.

Kurt hadn't seen Todd collapse this way before, curling into himself physically and every other way. It was a habit that had been carefully hidden from him, but the result was that it was new and scary. Todd had never seemed so hopeless back in their cell with no chance for escape in sight.

Quietly, he spread a blanket over them both. Kurt snuggled up with the smaller boy and stroked his hair. What else could he do? Todd didn't seem to be angry, but he was still pretty sure that he'd failed. He should have been on scene, even if there wasn't anything he could have done there that Kitty couldn't.

Despite his protests, Todd did eventually fall asleep. Having a table collapse on him and straining every muscle he had over the course of a few minutes took its toll. Todd was usually a restless, animated sleeper, in Kurt's very limited observations, but for the time being he was perfectly still.

Kurt watched and waited a long time to be sure he wouldn't be missed, then ported up to his room. He didn't plan on staying all night; he was pretty sure even the professor would be okay with bending the curfew tonight. He just wanted to be sure everything was in order and get a little air. Five minutes on the balcony, then back down to Todd.

Julian was one of the ones who'd gone home, and Kurt hadn't been reassigned a roommate yet, though it was probably a matter of time. The room was mercifully dark and quiet, but it was also cold. The door to the balcony was open a crack.

Normally he'd blame his own inattention, but nothing was certain tonight. He pressed his back to the wall and flipped on the light, but the room wasn't that big or crowded and his first impression of nothing amiss held through all his fearful scrutiny. He checked under the bed and in the closet, just to be sure, but he had no idea what he was looking for. After the initial panic waned began to suspect that he'd just left the door open a little after all.

He turned the light back off before he crossed the room anyway. There wouldn't be a silhouette to follow in the curtains that way. He closed the door with a satisfying click, unsure if he was a paranoid lunatic or not being nearly careful enough.

He was pretty sure it was the latter after he nearly tripped over the envelope on the floor.

Kurt suspected that wrecked any forensics that could have been done on it, but he still picked it up with a pillowcase. Normally he'd just go ahead and open it. He was fine with having adventures on his own, and he'd clearly been chosen as the recipient of this particular mysterious missive. But no chances tonight.

Ten minutes later, he set it on the Professor's desk with Logan and Mr. McCoy standing by and Rogue hovering around for moral support. Kurt's worries over ruining everything were assuaged when Xavier noticed the bright pink $0.50 tag half peeled off. The thing had been bought individually at the seedy dollar store downtown, and passed through way too many hands to hope for any kind of analysis. A scan had demonstrated it was just full of papers and not really flat, light triggered explosives of some kind, so that helped with the mood. It was still creepy, though.

Fortunately, before the tension got too thick to handle, Logan got bored with their waffling and dumped it out on the desk.

The papers were pictures printed out from a computer, two with the colors screwed up and several more in black and white. The camera work itself wasn't very good, either, out of focus and badly lit. But the subject matter was still clear. People training with guns in what looked like the woods well outside Bayville, a warehouse, a little house with a shed behind it, an office building, dark rooms with piled up crates. Each had notes on the back, addresses, coordinates, or names printed in block letters of the kind you'd use if you didn't want your handwriting identified.

"These are all good," Logan growled, rolling an unlit cigar to the other side of his mouth. The professor didn't let him light the things within fifty feet of the building, and Kurt half suspected he ate them when he was nervous.

"They look pretty awful to me," Kurt said uncertainly.

"Nah, don't look at 'em like vacation photos. They're all taken with strategy in mind. The angle on these from out in the country, you can see the mountains in the background and there's a highway sign in one. Even with the coordinates written on here, it's handy to know what the landscape actually looks like when you're comin' up. The inside ones are all taken so you can see the doors and the way the boxes are set up. Even the exteriors are the best angles to stake out these buildings." He shuffled through them pensively.

"Can't see anyone's face, though," Rogue pointed out.

"No notes on what's inside all these boxes, either," Logan countered. "Rush job, probably not too many operatives. Whoever sent us these knows what they're doin', but they didn't have a lotta time or support."

"And the question of who is pressing. I sensed no intruder, but with so much going on, it's entirely possible an ordinary mind might be missed in the chaos. Or, as is less likely but possible, whoever made the delivery had some kind of defenses. Do we have a timeframe at all, Kurt?"

"Nein, not a useful one. I didn't go back to my room after lunch, so that's eight hours to work in, at least."

"Another setback, then. And while Kurt's room is as good a drop point as any if someone preferred not to use the front door, there's also the possibility that they meant to give it directly to him."

"Why is my room a good drop point?" Kurt didn't like that idea. He'd been working under the assumption that the envelope was meant for him.

"You have a clear view all the way back to town once you're there, the balcony provides easy egress with plenty of cover on the ground, it's obviously highly trafficked, and you never lock the door," Mr. McCoy summed up neatly.

"Also could have been for Daniels or whatshisface," Logan added. Evan slept there occasionally, though he preferred sticking with the Morlocks' quarters, and Julian had only just left. "Not likely, but could be."

"I'd just like to make sure we all realize we're talking about someone who walked in while the whole place was locked up like the Tower of London," Mr. McCoy added. "But did so to deliver helpful information that admittedly should have gone to the police."

"If the brotherhood wasn't either here or in the emergency room, I'd say they were up to somethin'," Rogue said, frowning. "We got any reason to think this is good?"

"We'll need to look into it to be sure. Preferably in the lowest-risk way we can." The professor flipped through the pictures, worry lines more sharply creased than usual. "Of course, any of these locations could be a trap."

"The office is just in Albany," Logan pointed out. "Go during the day, check out the building, can't get that bad."

"They already attacked Warren on a crowded street, and if not in broad daylight, at least before full dark," Mr. McCoy reminded him.

"Like to see 'em try."

"I would caution you, Logan, that if our strategic-minded infiltrator is as clever as we believe him or her to be, then the same idea may have occurred to them. Or all locations might be equally dangerous to approach. But sabotage of such an elaborate kind seems somewhat futile if the FOH has someone capable of walking into the building. They certainly didn't seem interested in subtlety in either of tonight's other attacks."

"So that's a yes, Charles?"

"Go in the morning. Take Scott, Jean, and Kitty."

"Haven't gone incognito in a while." He smiled that dangerous smile. Everything about him was dangerous tonight. Anyone who went after kids that brutally was asking for a face full of claws. Kurt edged away just a little.

"If one of you could make a few sets of copies before bed, I'd be grateful," Xavier said tiredly. Rogue reached out and took them. "Thank you. And Kurt, perhaps you'd better find somewhere else to sleep tonight."

Kurt decided to take that statement exactly as it came. He nodded, walked out of the room and halfway to the library with the copy machine with Rogue, and dodged down a hallway just far enough to not be seen when he ported back to Todd's room.

He hadn't stirred. Kurt smiled wanly and climbed back into bed, nestling up to Todd's back and closing his eyes.


	31. Chapter 31

Todd wasn't even a little surprised to discover that Pietro's favorite thing to watch was reality TV. The girly stuff, too, with dates and outfits instead of the ones where people got locked in rooms with snakes or ate fried rats. Though Todd half suspected Pietro was merely engaging in the only method he currently had to drive people crazy.

His back was burned—he'd even lost a bunch of hair—and his front was scraped to hell from hitting the street, with a dislocated shoulder and some broken ribs thrown in. But the worst damage was internal. The heat had gotten into his lungs, and the hospital had him breathing special air through a cyberpunk elephant mask. Todd had enjoyed the hours he'd spent asleep, what with the TV being his to mess with, but it was a lot creepier to see him lying there still with junk attached to him than twitchy and annoyed.

"Man, you look like shit," he commented fondly, forcibly tearing his attention from the television and returning it to the Junior Jumble puzzle in the Bayville Chronicle. It was the smaller newspaper in town and Kurt had assured him it was the better one. He hadn't actually made it out of the funny pages yet.

Pietro raised one hand slowly, deliberately, going to obvious effort to flip the most emphatic bird Todd had ever seen. It was heartening, and it made things a little more normal. Pietro was such an ass that it was weird to think about him getting hurt worse than anyone in the course of saving them all. But at least he had the strength to be a dick again. That seemed like a clear indication he was out of the woods.

"Wanda's gonna be here in a few, anyways. So maybe go back to sleep, or pretend, so she won't get mad at me."

The middle finger remained for a few moments, just to make it clear Todd wasn't the boss of anybody, and then Pietro went back to the TV remote. He was usually murder on that kind of electronics, and it was almost funny to watch him forced to use buttons at a normal speed and force. Almost.

Apparently his brain was as fast as ever. He switched between shows every two minutes. Somehow that made it even worse. What if Todd _wanted_ to know how Vanessa felt about Lori being a total bitch? He'd never find out.

"Is that 'The Bachelor' again?" Wanda asked as she came in, hanging her coat by the door. She looked slightly surlier than her baseline and damp. The rain had apparently gotten worse while he was in here. The private room had its luxuries, but a window that wasn't two feet from another wing of the hospital wasn't one of them. (Magneto was apparently behind that, since no one else could be, but Todd had gotten up the guts to ask and no one had actually seen him.)

"Nope. It's Temptation Island, right this second," Todd said shortly, rolling up his paper and ceding the chair.

"He's really milking the fact that I can't hurt him right now." She sat down with a sigh. "Ororo's waiting in the lot. Is it you or Lance who's on in the morning?"

"Lance, I think. Unless he needs to do stuff again." He had the most complicated broken leg ever. "Anyway. See yah, babycakes."

"Really?"

"Force of habit, doll." He shrugged on his jacket and headed out.

No one was supposed to leave the mansion without a teacher, X-man or no. He and the other Brotherhood refugees had decided it was probably a good plan, and even the Morlocks were sticking with the buddy system.

"Any change from yesterday?" Ororo asked politely as Todd climbed in.

"Nah, not really. Whadda I know from medical stuff, though?" Why he felt like he should be comforting he had no idea. It was his friend in there and she was the grown up. She just seemed like she was too cool for this crap, somehow.

"Last I heard from the doctors, they're starting to hope for no permanent damage." She was trying to comfort him back. He felt even sillier. They lapsed into silence as she pulled into the slick streets.

There'd been no new attacks for a week. Had to figure the FOH people were regrouping, since they hadn't managed to kill anybody and they'd gotten a couple guys arrested. And their whole thing hadn't quite worked out right, since whoever was pushing the big stories on Angel was making them out to be the bad guys (not that the tabloids or the trashier rags agreed), and the few papers that were talking about the attack on the boarding house were speculating some kind of inter-mutant gang war. The FOH weren't doing so hot.

But that was probably just making them madder.

* * *

Kurt was back in school and working frantically to catch up, but he wouldn't have missed the debriefing from Logan's trip for all the homework points the world. The office had turned up nothing to speak of; the suite their informant indicated had already been hastily emptied out. But now Logan had gone alone to look into the warehouse.

Since everyone wanted the news, they were in the big living room rather than a proper meeting space. Kurt didn't even get a chair, and rather than take the floor spot between Bobby and Ray, he opted for the light fixture.

The Brotherhood kids sat together, Freddy standing behind Lance's wheelchair and Lorna leaned against the wall. The Morlocks made a cluster, too, though Torpid and Scaleface shared a couch with Amara and Rahne. The new kids were scattered, but didn't seem really integrated into any of the other groups, either. Even if the crisis could shove them all together, they still mixed like oil and water, apparently.

What looked like Wolverine's kind of dramatic entrance from the rain turned out to be Storm and Todd. Ororo wasn't even damp, but Todd was more drenched than even today's weather made reasonable. She was apologizing, so it looked like her tweak to the immediate environment had gone a little awry. Todd shrugged and hopped up on the wall behind his friends. But he looked across the ceiling at Kurt and winked.

"Hey, Froggy, see the big guy out there?" Tabby called, completely ignoring the invisible walls in the room.

"Nah."

"He would be late, huh?"

"Maybe he needs a adamantium watch."

"That wouldn't really work very well," Forge volunteered. He was sitting with Betsy and Megan, who Kurt had finally learned to stop thinking of as Purple Haired Sword Girl and Wingy Girl, despite Todd's bad influence. He looked perfectly at ease, but then, he always did.

Kurt thought for just a minute that the strict factions might break, but then Wolverine threw the door open.

He hadn't gone in uniform, so the damage wasn't immediately obvious. Even shot full of holes, a soaked leather jacket showed a lot less than bright-colored spandex. A few beats passed before Scott and Jean both leaped out of their chairs, but Kurt cheated and ported over.

Logan waved him away. "I'm okay now, Elf. Though if you grab me somethin' with lots of protein, that'd be nice."

Kurt nodded and teleported away. Dinner hadn't been served yet, and the chickens were sitting in a warm oven to wait for the end of the meeting. He was an adept carver, though the heat gave him a little trouble. He walked back out with the whole bird, suspecting sulfur wouldn't improve the taste, and had to hop over a hair braiding chain of Xian, Trixie, Jubilee, and Soorayah to get back through. By the time he returned, Jean had bullied Logan successfully into a seat, and he only went through one drumstick before he started talking.

"Sorry, that much healing takes it outta me." He sighed. "Found the warehouse."

"As much as we appreciate your sense of the dramatic, Logan," the Professor said evenly.

"Right. Well, it wasn't cleaned out. So we don't know if they knew that office got made or they were just done with it. There are less crates now than in the pictures, though, so that ain't good news. I got a look inside one. Weapons are old, but military grade stuff. Soviet, probably. I'd guess they're importing from Madripoor, but I'd have to confirm with a lot of askin' around. I'm hopin' I'm wrong on that one, because it takes real criminal chops to take on that place and come out with somethin' other than a hole in the head." He paused for more chicken. "Was kinda hopin' they just hit up those creepy militia types out west, but the stuff's too uniform for that. The one piece of good news is that it looked like it was all firearms. They're making their own bombs, based on the forensics on the boardinghouse."

"All useful intelligence. What happened to you?" Normally, Xavier kept this kind of thing under wraps or at least out of the way of the younger students, but in the current climate, there wouldn't be a lot of point.

"Should have cut the power on my way in. The notes we got on the place made it seem like all the security was on the outside, and whoever got the pictures was movin' around in there. Didn't count on cameras. Or maybe they added them since. I did look around for the regular kind just in case, so they've got some high tech surveillance, too."

"And they didn't appreciate the incursion?"

"Nope. I went out a window and got away with just a couple shots fired." The number of holes in his jacket demonstrated Logan's definition of _a couple_. "Didn't have the claws out. Could have been they'd have shot at anyone unexpected, or they might have recognized me. Kurt said they had footage of some of our more public fights at the facility."

"Neither is a comforting thought. But we know more than we did. Thank you, Logan. We'll talk more later. For now, I think we'd better get everyone fed."

The tension in the room broke. Kurt watched Kitty go over to Lance with a smile. He disapproved a little, just because he thought of her as a sister and Lance was still kind of a sleaze, but at least there were breaches in the walls.

He hurried to make one of his own, teleporting over to the corner nearest Todd. Even in a room this crowded, the ceiling afforded just a little privacy. "How's Quicksilver?"

"Y'know how funny that sounds when you say it?" Todd asked with a smirk ."Kuh-vick-zil-fah. Anyways. He's pretty much the same. They figure they'll grow his lungs back."

"That's what they said?" Kurt was incredulous.

"Prolly. I don't know this shit. After food, y'wanna go sit on the roof a while? No one's gonna bug us in the rain."

"Because they're sane." He smiled crookedly. "But ja, that sounds good. Not _right_ after food, though. I really need to make some headway on my math stuff. Give me an hour."

"Lame."

"Why don't you go hang in my room? Then I'll grab you as soon as I'm done und we can just go through the balcony." Over the course of a quiet week he'd stopped being leery of his room. There'd been nothing new from their secret informant.

"Don't you got a roommie again?"

"Doug, ja, but he's never there except before bed. He lives in the library. Where I'll be going to deal with the algebra monster."

"What's his actual power, anyways?"

"Languages, I guess? Like, he speaks und understands everything. Anyway, dinner." He dropped out of his braced position on the ceiling and fell neatly to the floor. Todd landed next to him in an undignified heap. "Should you be doing that?"

"Can't not, so whatever." He stood and stretched, then headed to the kitchen. Not too much friendliness between them, even in a crowd this big and preoccupied.

After dinner, Todd wound up listening to Trixie's report on female spies in WWII for twenty minutes, because she could make him, and he was actually pretty grateful to escape into the quiet of Kurt's bedroom.

Though he didn't really find it comfier than the basement rooms. He knew what Kurt _meant_, in that it was fancier (one of those times he didn't even notice he was being condescending, the dumb furball). But if you didn't care all that much that the bed was made of wood and not aluminum or that there was room for extra furniture, then it pretty much came down to a comfy enough mattress and being the right temperature.

He took the opportunity to snoop just a little. He hadn't spent time in Kurt's own space before. Usually Kurt came to him, and even back in Germany, he'd been in the childhood hideout, not Kurt's room. Funny to think of himself before he'd have wanted to be surrounded by the faint smell of warm fur and fresh air.

He didn't go digging deep, of course. He wouldn't do that. That was icky. But he figured things that were sitting on the desk were fair, if he didn't move them too much. Photos of the Wagners together and a bunch of shots of various X-dork events. He wished there were pictures of the two of them. He'd want some, too. But they hadn't quite figured out how to do that yet, since they couldn't exactly take a roll of film to the Rite Aid when it had Kurt's secret identity in it, and apparently you had to give reasons for signing out the polaroid cameras or the digital stuff from school, and Kurt wasn't in any art classes.

Someday. He enjoyed looking at the family pictures, anyway. Kurt had been unreasonably adorable as a little guy. The rest of the stuff on the desk was just books and papers, and nothing he hadn't seen Kurt look through before.

Todd spotted a blank sheet of paper and helped himself to a pencil with an eraser shaped like a rocket ship-because some people were five years old, apparently. He tended to have an easier time drawing with his feet, but he was in a bit of a hurry. If Kurt finished his homework and walked in, this couldn't be a surprise.

He was, as a few people had observed, not a bad artist. The picture was hurried and sketchy, but he thought it hit the right notes. He'd just set out to doodle something corny, but he was an idea guy. The picture turned out to be of the two of them taking a bite out of the same cookie. Mrs. Wagner had sent another box, and maybe he could smell them through the paper from Kurt's dresser. Subliminal suggestion. He liked that. Once he'd decided he had Kurt's little devil grin down and not caring too much about his own expression (though he'd captured that, too), he finished the picture with a grin. He didn't even notice he was drawing Kurt's tail around his waist until he was halfway through it.

So he really wanted that to happen. He'd wait until Kurt's tail was all the way better. Or all the way painless, anyway. It wasn't going to regrow.

Slightly depressed by the thought, he cheered himself up by adding _Hiya Sugar Cookie_ and a winking smiley face with a long tongue. Now, where to hide it? He didn't want Kurt to accidentally find it at school or turn it back in to the library, but he didn't want it to get buried, either. He settled on the inside cover of the German-to-English dictionary the furball used when he was writing and hurriedly slipped the book right back into place. Sneaky.

He'd psyched himself up to expecting Kurt to catch him or show up right as he finished his stealthy maneuvers, but a few minutes later, he gave up on that. He sprawled out on the bed for a bit, enjoying the smell of Kurt's hair on the pillow and paging through the newspaper he'd been holding onto for no very good reason since he'd come back from babysitting Pietro, but he'd been sitting still too much of the day.

To change it up, he stuck the paper under one arm and climbed up to hang from the ceiling with one hand and both knees. It took a surprising amount of concentration to try to read the sports page while he was dangling like this, and it kept him sufficiently entertained.

Enough that he almost missed the tiny little creak as the door to the balcony opened. Though even if he had, the chill and damp that immediately surged into the room would have had his attention. He thought for only a second that the door might have blown open. He'd heard this story.

And right now, he was in the one direction nobody ever looked. Sweet. Todd pulled himself more tightly against the ceiling in an attempt to be harder to spot.

He couldn't see a shadow on the other side of the curtain, but and he was pretty sure that the lights outside meant he should. Interesting. The curtains waved so much in the wind that he almost missed the little shadow that came in under them.

It was... a cat? A cat that saw an open door and decided to get out of the rain would make sense, but this cat was dragging something. And not a dead bird, either. A plastic bag with papers inside it.

Oh.

Todd stayed absolutely still, watching the animal approach the desk. Cats weren't made to carry anything this shape, and the little critter was soaked and bedraggled on top of making slow progress. Would have made more sense to go with a monkey, but a monkey wouldn't have been a normal thing to find in Bayville. Trade-offs. He could grok that.

He waited until she was next to the bed and shot his tongue out. He nabbed the bag, though it was slippery enough that his slime didn't hold on all the way back up, and he had to drop off the ceiling entirely to catch it, landing on the bed with a thump. Trixie's variation on that trick would have been handy. He was still pleased with himself, though. Sure he could have waited for the packet to be left for Kurt to find like the last one, but he wanted her attention, and he had it. "Yoink."

Mystique was glowering at him in her normal form immediately. He should have been cowering. He'd been damn scared of her once upon a time. He was still afraid in the technical sense, since she could probably throttle him before anyone got here to intervene, or just turn into a bear or Chuck Norris or something if she didn't want to sully her own pretty blue hands. But her psychological hold seemed to be gone. "Yo."

"_What_ are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Didja not get the memo? Everyone's here who ain't at Bayfield General. Tryin' to not get blown up again. Besides, I'm here all the time."

"_Here_. This room."

"Funny story is? I'm actually readin' this thing." He picked up some of the newspaper he'd dropped when he fell. It was scattered all over the bed and onto the floor now. "I almost started on the editorials, but you decided to come in."

"Toad!" He remembered that growl and he even remembered the fear, but it didn't overwhelm him.

He thought about letting her know exactly what he'd found out over the past few months. He could have said something about dropping babies in rivers or nice moms who took on anti-mutant shotgun nuts for their kids and made cookies, about how he had more right to be here than she did. But he didn't actually want to hurt her. She was miserable as a guardian, and probably as a person, but for a long time she'd been the only person who cared about him even a little bit. If he was capable of loving his biological mother, he could be fond of this one, too.

Though he'd better never think of her as a mother figure again. Ew and double ew.

He just went for straightforward situational blackmail. "Nah, I don't gotta talk. Yer the one in a tight spot right here. I yell, bet Wolverine'll cut his way through the floor to get here in three seconds if he's gotta. Guy's edgy right now."

"You little creep."

"Yup," he said proudly. "Now, gonna tell me what's up, boss lady?"

"Or I could leave."

Okay, maybe he'd take one cheap shot. "I'll tell him you were here. Hell, I'll tell Rogue." That part wasn't true, simply because he'd noticed Rogue and Kurt dealt with this issue very differently and letting Rogue in on it would upset Kurt.

Her voice was dangerously low and toneless. "And what's your question?"

"Why this?" He held up the slightly slimed, dripping bag. At least the papers looked okay. "It ain't like they wouldn't let you in if you asked. That Gambit guy got here yesterday. They ain't bein' strict about this right now. An' the last thing you dropped off helped, even if it got Logan shot at a bunch. Why not just walk in the front door with what yah got?"

"I work alone."

Not an answer, but that question had really just been the lead-up. "Whatever. Why the furball, then? Drop it on Xavier's desk."

"None of your concern, little tadpole."

"Didn't we go over how I got the upper hand?" It was actually really cool that he won this one and he wanted to gloat a little. When would he get another chance?

She turned and walked back toward the door. He wasn't going to let her walk that easy. "Hey? I gotta yell?"

"I'll be gone."

Todd got off the bed, taking a step toward her. "Weird thing is, they'll believe me." Some of them, anyway, and none of the teachers seemed to have a real problem with him anymore.

"Tell me why you're in _this_ room."

Before he could answer, there was a puff of sulfured air and a muted pop, and Kurt had pounced his Toad, happily unaware of who was standing behind him. At least someone got to be happy for a second. Todd stood absolutely paralyzed as Kurt fastened onto him with a happy little growl and bit down on his shoulder through both hair and shirt, a compromise they'd found to handle his vampire habit without Todd yelping and winding up bruised. Todd had been thinking of Kurt's biting to show affection as weird and sometimes kind of unpleasant but ultimately harmless, but standing in front of Mystique it felt downright depraved.

Being caught smooching someone's kid (or, in this case, being chewed on) had to always be awkward, but this had so many layers of awful he couldn't count them. Kurt caught on that something was wrong almost immediately, at least, and straightened up. "Was ist..." He followed Todd's horrified gaze and saw just who was watching.

There were a lot of things he probably _should_ have done. X-man training for a sudden hostile intrusion was pretty extensive, Todd would have guessed, and it wasn't like he hadn't fought her plenty. He might even have put together what was going on. But some things were too much for a fragile teenage psyche, and this was apparently one of them.

Kurt flopped onto the bed with a groan and pulled a pillow over his face.

Todd hated having to be sensible. "Yo, furball."

"Leave me alone. I'm dead."

"Situation."

"The situation is that I'm dead now."

"Kurt..." But she was gone. Todd sighed as he sat down on the bed. "Y'know, we might of actually got some answers out of her, man."

Kurt lifted the pillow slightly, still looking pained. "I'm pretty sure I couldn't have said a word. What was she even doing here?"

"Droppin' off intel." He held up the package. "Same as last time, I guess."

"It was her?" He sat up, shaking off the worst of his paralyzing humiliation. "That's so weird."

"I didn't get anythin' outta her while she was here, really. She was pissed enough before she got to watch you port in an' try to eat me."

"Gott, don't ever mention that again..." Kurt groaned again and dropped the pillow back onto his face.

Todd realized slowly that Kurt hadn't for a moment suspected he was working with her or had let her in or anything. It felt good to be trusted, good enough that he almost didn't care about the creepy, gross, embarrassing incident. Almost. "Didn't yah tell yer actual parents about me, fool?"He'd been weirded out enough by that, but compared to what had just happened, it was cute.

"Ja, but I didn't send them pictures of us necking. Und that wouldn't be as bad as her being right _there_." His voice rose to almost a whine. Todd hadn't seen Kurt flustered like this before. He wondered if he should be offended, but he hadn't acted like this when any of the handful of others who had the scoop had figured it out. Trixie had already managed to walk in on them snuggling and Kurt had just thrown a cushion at her. What the hell did he care what Mystique thought, even if the whole thing was gross in principle?

Kurt cared a lot, unfortunately and against his better judgement. He wanted to understand her properly, to know what she felt about him, if she'd ever loved him, what they could ever possibly be. And not seeing her for so long had let all that percolate. It was stupid to want her to approve of his relationship. She clearly wasn't qualified to judge any human interaction at all, but it mattered in spite of all he told himself. And that was the worst way the subject could possibly be breached.

Kurt sighed and sat up. "I need to go tell the professor. You should probably come. I mean, you saw more than I did."

"Yeah, guess I better."

"We still on for the roof, after?" Kurt bumped their shoulders together in an attempt at playfulness.

"I was kinda jokin', man. Yer gonna smell like wet dog."

"Nein, I have a clever plan. But we have to report to Professor X before you can see what it is." He was overcompensating with the silliness, but it was better than lying still and wincing with horror.


	32. Chapter 32

"This is the clever plan?"

"It should work." Kurt tossed the big beach towel over his arm and opened the umbrella. He bumped the giant thing against his bookcase, but it worked. Todd shrugged and grabbed on around his waist, and they popped up to his favorite spot on the roof.

The rain was steady and hard, and Kurt hurried to get the umbrella into place and the towel underneath it. They'd probably still end up with wet pants, but it helped. Getting them both in place was more of a struggle. The umbrella felt a lot smaller when it was actually keeping off a pounding downpour and not providing a bit of shade on the beach.

They wound up with Todd's back to the chimney that supported the umbrella and Kurt sort of on his lap. He was sitting on the towel, but his legs were sideways over Todd's, and their poorly-coordinated attempts to squish under the protection of the umbrella compressed them into an awkward tangle of limbs.

"Least it's warm," Todd observed, still feeling silly about the whole thing. But at least they were alone and he had his Kurt. He twisted his fingers in the stupid long hair that he kind of loved and smiled.

"Ja, all cozy." Kurt kissed him, aiming for very soft but turning into one of those kisses where neither of them would stop and they only pulled apart when Todd shivered hard enough that Kurt needed to hug him tighter.

"Little bit cold."

"Water's seeping in. Guess we don't have that long." Kurt pouted. He reached up to push the hair out of Todd's face. "So cute."

"Nutcase."

"You are." Kurt nuzzled his cheek. "Cute und comfy, too."

"Ain't either one. I'm ugly an' pointy."

"No kisses for you if you say that."

"Fine, I won't say it." He appreciated the effort, but sometimes Kurt was too ridiculous.

"Nein, that doesn't count." Kurt tipped Todd's chin up a little with one finger and hovered an inch away, promising a really good kiss if he could earn it. "Admit I'm right."

"No."

"Come on. Say you're cute." Kurt's voice seemed a little deeper. Todd didn't know what to make of that, but he liked it.

Not enough to cooperate, though. That was silly. Instead, he tried something he'd seen in one of the Cosmos that Pietro liked to blame on Wanda. He'd been confused by the premise at the time, but hell, what did he have to lose? He stole his own kiss, aiming for Kurt's earlobe.

Kurt inhaled sharply and jumped so hard it sounded like he'd knocked his head into the chimney. At least they didn't go off the roof the way they had out of that tree branch. Todd just figured he'd finally managed to pull one of those on Kurt. He didn't actually enjoy those dizzyingly sharp rushes of sensation. It was only nice when they worked up to it. So he just assumed Kurt didn't either. "Oops. Sorry. What'd I do?"

Breathing a little hard, Kurt gave him a slightly unfocused look with a particularly fangy smile. "Huh? ...Uh, I don't know. You'd better do it again so I can figure it out..."

Weird, but Todd complied. Now that he thought about it, the magazine had specified _nibbling_, so that was what he did. Gently and carefully, but he supposed this was the kind of thing Kurt liked to do to him. Maybe it made sense that he liked getting it back.

Kurt shivered and let out a low, shaky sigh, twisting his fingers in Todd's jacket. That seemed like a positive review, and he kept it up until Kurt outright moaned and turned his head for a kiss. A kiss that involved his tongue in Todd's mouth and more of those sweet noises. Now that he'd determined that was a happy thing for Kurt, he discovered he _liked_ hearing little moans and sighs. He was very careful in returning the kiss, since his tongue was a special case, but it was a rush all the same.

Being held so tight was good, too. He'd never been so low on doubts that Kurt wanted to be doing this. The deep, fierce kissing and the closeness and the pleased cat-noises and the hand on the back of his head holding him still to kiss even deeper...

He wasn't sure which of them slipped or exactly how, but he caught the umbrella between his feet and Kurt wound up on his stomach on the wet shingles, holding them both up. He let out a not-at-all-playful growl and ported to Todd's room in the basement.

Todd couldn't help being a little disappointed, but they were both soaked now and the mood was definitely broken. He sat on the bed with a sigh. "Fun while it lasted, huh?"

"Ja, it was." Kurt leaned down and pressed a strangely chaste kiss to his forehead. "See you tomorrow, okay?"

Abrupt, but Todd wanted to dry off, too. "Night, sweetums."

Kurt stopped long enough to punch his shoulder and disappeared. Todd sighed and went to pull off his wet clothes. What a night.

Kurt landed back in his room and immediately collapsed on the bed, mentally berating himself. He'd never expected to be grateful to almost fall off a roof, but thank heaven. He was very glad he'd been sitting on Todd's lap and not the other way around, at least. Small blessings.

He gathered up a clean towel and something to sleep in and hurried to the bathroom. He'd come in from that rain and still needed a cold shower. He berated himself all the way there. He just shouldn't be thinking that way. At all. Maybe in a long time or when they were older or... Sometime. He wasn't sure what would make it okay, exactly, especially in their complicated situation, but something presumably kicked in at that unknown point.

And Todd had been fine, so it was apparently just him that was terrible, and kept thinking about that teasing tickle against his ear, making him weak at the knees even standing under cold water.

* * *

Lance didn't have another doctor thing, but he looked super worn out, and Todd didn't have anything else to do that morning, so he went to relieve Wanda. She was in Pietro's room most of the time, actually, sometimes accompanied by Lorna. Freddy was such a pain to get in and out of the van that he'd bowed out of the project. Hadn't had a lot of enthusiasm anyway.

He expected more of whatever the Fox network was doing to award cash prizes to human iniquity this week, but Wanda was reading to her brother when Todd arrived. He was confused for a moment before he realized she wasn't reading English. It sounded nice, so he waited in the door a minute before he interrupted. Wanda had a really pretty voice when she wasn't screaming.

"Penéla u parmísso:  
Star nágli hísle peráit  
Fir ti kerén ti merél i Retáres.

Jek vintákri ciáj dikjás,  
Forpái ap i hígla,  
Har giálesli ap u drom fon u vélto..."

Todd shifted and she must have seen his shadow move or something. She held up one finger and read a little faster until she was apparently done. She closed up the book and stretched as she stood. "Good, I've been in this chair all night."

"Whazzat?" he asked, nodding toward the book.

"You know, I only get about half the words now, but at least I remember how to pronounce it." She shrugged. "Poetry collection. Pietro's retained a lot more than I have."

Todd was wholly lost. "Huh?"

"We don't do a lot of sharing, do we?" She shook her head. "We lived with our mother until we were six, when she died. Erik only showed up then. Should have been a warning. And a little Rom enclave in rural Romania doesn't prepare you well for New York, I can tell you." Wanda sighed as she pulled on her coat. "Probably stress that kicked off our powers so early. Though that seems to run in the family."

Todd wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he just nodded and turned to Pietro. "Howzit goin', Speedy?" Pietro did the backwards-V-fingers thing Kurt did sometimes. He really had to figure out what that was supposed to mean.

"I'm glad you get along so well."

"Yeah, well, everyone likes me 'cus I'm adorable."

"Of course. I'll be back as soon as I've had some sleep and food that didn't come out of a vending machine." She waved and left them alone.

"Any chance we could watch wrestling?" he asked as he slumped in the chair. Pietro went with a jack-off motion this time and he decided to just shut up and let Blind Date go. He'd brought a notebook instead of the paper this time, and in a little while he was happily hunched over his doodles, ignoring the buzz from the TV. Pietro seemed to be asleep anyway.

A nurse walked in. That was normal, but half the point of being here was to not let anything worse happen to a helpless Pietro. Todd happened to know you could buy scrubs at the dollar store. He didn't lift his head, but he watched her over the edge of the notebook. Probably the crazy anti-mutant terrorists didn't employ middle aged women with bad haircuts, but that could be just what they wanted him to think.

So he was theatrically startled when she looked back at him and turned back into Mystique, but he was probably supposed to look up and find her looming over him. At the moment, though, she didn't need any extra style to cow him.

"Ohjesus don't kill me!" He put the notebook over his head like he was in a tornado drill, staring up at her plaintively from underneath.

She took the notebook and held up the page he'd inadvertently shown her in the process of cowering. Of course. Picture of Kurt. He was trying to master the profile from memory and it was quite ordinary as sketches went, except he was having trouble getting the graceful ears down and he'd absentmindedly added an arrow pointing to them with the words _nibble nibble_.

"Okay, but kill me a cool way? Like, maybe you could be a bear."

She whacked him with the notebook. It wasn't gentle or anything, but she'd used a small bundle of paper to do it. By her standards, that was practically a hug. "Don't screw up."

He straightened up a little. "...That's it?"

"It is until you screw up."

"Ah." Yeah, he was doomed. "If, uh, y'came to check on Tro, he's a little better."

"I helped myself to the records, yes."

"Okay, cool. So, uh..." He hadn't had a chance to ask. "That was you the other night? Back at the house."

"Cleverly spotted."

"Kay." He didn't think he'd have any more luck interrogating her than last time, but he had to try. "What's the point, lady?"

"It's extremely complicated."

"Would of been my guess, yeah." Though it _could_ have been simple and a secret anyway, probably. Like if she was allergic to front doors and helpful answers. Which would explain a lot. "But now Kurt's kinda bugged out... Not like he ain't been, like, forever. But Rogue is, too, an' everyone thinks I gotta know somethin'."

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you."

"Fuck me. I just wanna be able to tell them."

She dropped an envelope on his lap. This had to be the least efficient means possible for accomplishing whatever she was up to, but he didn't think there was a lot of point saying so. She was back to the nice looking nurse as she walked past him.

"Um, so, I kinda love him. Like, a lot. So... Not gonna screw up if I can help it." She didn't answer. He'd suspect she hadn't heard if he didn't know she could hear the slightest shenanigans from all the way across the boarding house.

She was gone. Again. He sighed and opened the notebook again. He considered going through the envelope, but it'd be better to just hand it all over to the X-geeks when he was relieved. He didn't want to screw anything up.

"You better not be fake asleep," he said sulkily to Pietro. There was no response, but of course, he'd do exactly that if he wanted to be a real jerk and blab about it later.

* * *

"Yesterday's information was much the same as the first batch. Two new locations, and names that Logan has identified as aliases of arms dealers." The professor spread out the assorted pictures and notes for everyone's perusal. They hadn't invited the whole school to this one, but with all the core X-men, the teachers, and a few extras, Kurt was on the ceiling again. Todd was, too. He was the official Brotherhood representative, both because he'd actually brought the information and because everyone else over the age of fifteen was busy, disinterested, or, in Lance's case, passed out from a fresh dose of painkillers.

No one was looking up, so he brushed his tail lightly against Todd's hand. It was still achy, but at least he could move it a bit. Todd stuck out his tongue at him.

"Today's, however, is of an entirely different kind. Everything from this envelope is about Graydon Creed. A great deal of it is, in fact, public knowledge. He's a local politician in New Hampshire, and apparently doesn't find it a particularly demanding job, as he's also the owner of a financial firm. Half of this is newspaper clippings."

"He gets on TV sometimes," Kitty said with a scowl. "He's one of the guys they get to talk about the mutant threat. And also, like, how laying off workers is awesome and everyone should do it, and women should stay in the kitchen having babies. Just the guy who does the crazy talk when the news has to have someone from both sides."

"Does anyone else ever want to expel New Hampshire from New England?" Scott asked conversationally. He got a few looks. For him, that was pretty acerbic.

"However," Xavier said smoothly. "The additional documents and a few photographs provide considerable further insight. I'm not especially good with accounting, but Hank assures me that the financial documents demonstrate shell corporations hiding assets that match up with the arms deals we've already uncovered. There are pictures of him meeting with individuals we've identified from the last batch of intelligence, and there's even a copied key and a location for a safe-deposit box. And, just to be sure, could one of you two see if you recognize the man?" Xavier held up one of the clippings.

Kurt shook his head, but Todd examined it for a moment and nodded. "Yup, that's the guy we saw on the way in. Fuzzy was mostly unconscious for that."

"I see. Well, we have his involvement with both the mutant detention facility and the Friends of Humanity confirmed. Yes, that's the name we finally dug out. Extremely catchy." Xavier was capable of the driest possible sarcasm.

"So just to be clear here, shouldn't we take this evidence to the police? This guy's not a mutant. He's after mutants, but otherwise he seems like a regular criminal." Jean shifted the papers in front of her listlessly.

"It's a possibility. One trouble, of course, is that Mystique and anyone helping her has been using distinctly illegal means to pursue this information, and while it's extremely useful if you assume guilt, none of it is likely to be admissible in court. Photocopies, computer print outs, digital photos are also all easily manipulated, and real damning details are missing. And I think we're all aware that law enforcement has hardly been leaping to the defense of targeted mutants." He sighed. "We'll consider all options going forward. I simply wanted everyone appraised of the situation as it stands. Kurt and Rogue, if you could stay a moment longer?"

The room emptied out. Todd mouthed that he'd wait and hopped out, trading dirty looks with Scott, probably out of habit at this point. Kurt jumped down from the ceiling and shuffled over to stand with Rogue.

"I didn't want anyone to see this particular document before you two had a chance. Even the other teachers haven't been informed." Xavier took his time about producing the piece of paper from under the general stack, it seemed to Kurt. It was hard for him to seem more solemn and foreboding than usual, but he managed it. Kurt had time to exchange a nervous glance with Rogue before he finally set the thing down.

It was a single page, another copy and a little blurry. He had to lean down to read it. It was a birth certificate. He had to fight his eyes not to glaze over as they tended to do when confronted with anything official or having to do with paperwork. Rogue gasped and stepped away before he'd even caught on.

The parents were listed as Victor Creed and Raven Darkholme.

Rogue looked pale even through her makeup. "I... need to be alone." She turned and bolted. Kurt went after her, forgetting to say anything to the professor. He didn't work too hard, though. She didn't seem to be trying to cue him to follow her. She was just running.

With Todd staring after her in confusion. He'd waited in the hallway, far enough away to not overhear things by accident. Kurt took his hand and squeezed. "Um, roof?"

"...S'really cold, man." He looked uncertain.

"Stop by my room for a sweatshirt for you and then roof?"

"Sure thing."

Kurt didn't wait any longer. He wrapped his arm around Todd's and jumped to his bedroom, startling Doug from the homework spread out on his bed. Kurt ignored him, grabbing the first warm thing he saw to toss to Todd, and popped them back to the spot by the chimney.

Todd wrestled into the baggy sweatshirt and waited a moment before he had to ask. "Okay, I do like wearin' yer clothes an' sittin' in weird high places. It's a good routine. But what's buggin' yah?"

Kurt sighed and covered his face in his hands. "I haven't even figured _that_ out yet."

"Okay... What'd the prof say?"

"Apparently Mr. Murderous Terrorist is my half brother."

"...The Mystique half?"

"I don't actually know the other half."

"Oh, right." Todd inhaled slowly, let it out, and wrapped his arms around Kurt, squeezing tightly. Kurt leaned into him after a moment's hesitation. He nuzzled into the crook of Todd's neck, for once feeling no temptation to kiss. He just needed to be held right now. "So, uh, that's a lotta things that might bug yah. I understand."

"Ja, long list." He'd never been quite comfortable with the scary, treacherous, psychotic part of his parentage, but now he had hard evidence of what that could do to a person. (And _she_ was just the worst person ever, too. Good to have another reminder.) His own brother had seen him bleeding, poisoned, and battered on the floor of a truck and had him collared along with his best friend, had tried to kill a roomful of mutants and the Brotherhood and Angel and probably lots of others. Poor Rogue had more to deal with than ever. And just as a cherry on top... "Sabretooth's the father."

"Oh, the _fuck_?"

"I didn't say that, but I probably would have if I weren't in front of my teacher."

"Nah, you say, like, fich."

He couldn't resist. "Nein, _fick_, it's that hard ch sound, like I taught you. What you just said sounds like fish."

"Maybe I really hate fish."

"Or really like them."

"Shut up, Fritz. My tongue is stupid."

"I happen to know that's not true..." He nuzzled up under Todd's chin. "You know just how to cheer me up, cutie pie."

"Sugar plum."

"Pixie stick."

"Toblerone."

Kurt straightened up to eye him incredulously. "...Okay, that's good chocolate, but it doesn't work here."

"Gimme a break. It was the next candy I thought of."

"Really? Oh, nevermind. Cheered up." He kissed Todd, forgetting how horrible everything was for just a few seconds. He sighed as he pulled away. "Though this is still really fucked up."

"Fiched up."

"Ugh, stop it. You hurt my ears." Kurt kissed him again to show he was teasing. "So, what do you do when everything sucks?"

"Lately? Well, there's this German guy I know who lets me make out with him. But, uh, I dunno. Think about baby turtles?"

"Baby turtles?"

"An' koalas." He snickered a bit, but Kurt didn't get the joke.

"Hmm." He tried for a moment, and he had to admit it was sort of calming, but he didn't really make any progress. Kurt sighed and fastened back onto Todd with a little huffing noise. "Nein. I think I just need... Stars und fresh air und you und the roof for a while."

"That's a good list. I like that list." Todd pulled Kurt into his lap and they watched the stars turn in silence.


End file.
